LETTER I.

I Received yours dated the thir­teenth instant, wherein you give me an account of the loss of your Health, and also request me to give you such prudential Observati­ons [Page 2]as may tend towards your Re­covery. Sir, you know my Service is alwayes at your Beck; but I must take leave to tell you, that I cannot serve you better in such a deplorable Distemper as yours is, than to per­swade you to take the Advice of your able and Learned Physician, whose Prescriptions have so often been attended with success. Need I use Arguments to perswade a wise man to endeavour to restore his Health? Sir, your Health is highly valuable upon a publick as well as upon a private account, it being sub­servient unto the good of Commu­nities as well as of particular persons. A whole Fleet hath been disabled for two Months by the Indisposition of the Admiral, and two Towns lost by the Governour falling ill in the time of the Sieges. Accidents of Health sometimes become Accidents [Page 3]of State; and the pulse of the Go­vernment sometimes beats high or low with that of the Governor. Health is that which makes all our Delights delightfull. A sound Mind in a sound Body, consummates the perfection of Humane Nature. The Health of the Body conduceth unto the Harmony of the Soul, and the Harmony of the Soul preserves the Health of the Body: It preserves the Faculties of the Mind in strength and vigor, clears the Understanding, makes the Wit acute, and the Me­mory retentive. Without Health the most delicious Dainties will not please the Pallate, the most fragrant Odors will not delight the Smell, the most harmonious Melodies will not gratifie the Ear, the most beautiful Object will not please the Eye, nor the softest Down ease the Bones. When mens flesh upon them is in pain, it [Page 4]makes their Souls within them to mourn. Health is that which is of most Comfortable Importance next unto the Salvation of the Souls of men; especially when we consider what a multitude of Distempers the mortal Bodies of men are exposed unto. Some Physicians have found two hundred in that small and ten­der part the Eye. Our bodies are like a Curious Instrument of a thou­sand strings; and it's very wonderful if one or more of those strings be not out of tune. It were a great fa­vour, if it were the pleasure of Hea­ven, to give men a constant frame of Health during their pilgrimage, and might very deservedly be rec­koned amongst the Catalogue of our Mercies, to have our bodies like the Jews bodies in the Wilderness, little worn or impaired by pining sicknesses. If the Woman in the Gospel had [Page 5]spent all her substance upon any thing but the inestimable Jewel of her Health, she had not gone out of our Saviours presence without a Reprehension. If men did but con­sider the wonderfull composure of their bodies, the situation of the parts, the circulation of the blood, the se­veral Meanders of the Veins and Nerves, and the curious distribution of our Aliment into Flesh and Blood, they would then admire that every Obstruction did not stop their breath, and that the least Inflamation did not send them out of the World as in a fiery Chariot, and that the least Degree of putrefaction did not crum­ble them into their first Original; so that instead of wondering they live no more in health, they would think it strange they live one hour in ease. All our good things may be reduced into those of the Mind, [Page 6]of the Body, and of Fortune; which three if enjoyed, render a man as happy as Solomon in all his Glory. He that hath Health to enjoy his Riches, Grace to preserve his Health, and the hope of Glory to remune­rate his Grace, needs no more. When a healthy Constitution and a holy Disposition joyn hand in hand, they compleat our Happiness. Health without Religion is but like a Down Pillow to a Restless Head, which the best Chamberlain cannot make easie: And Riches without Health is but like Meat without a Stomach, which the best Cook cannot make relishing. Restauration to health is a Kind of Resurrection, and it's call­ed by St. James a Raising up. When the Organs of our bodies are un­tuned, and our Spirits are wasted by Sickness, our Souls cannot act with Vivacity; our teeming Invention be­comes [Page 7]barren, our soaring Fancy droops and hangs the wing, and the remembrance of things pass away as water through a Sieve; Mens parts and abilities being according unto the number, activity and orderly motion of their Spirits; and they are more or less pure and regular, ac­cording unto the Healthy Complexi­on of the Blood and Humors.

When the golden Bole is broken, and the sound of the Grinding is low, and the Pitcher is broken at the Fountain, and the Wheel broken at the Cestern, then the Sun and the Moon and the Stars will be dark­ned. Were it possible for a man to stand upon one of the Battlements of Heaven, and with one glance of his Eye to behold all the Wounds and Diseases, all the Groans and Complaints of Dying Mortals, how would Health and Ease be prized [Page 8]by such a one? But Health is never so much prized, as when it brings Letters of Recommendation from Sickness. But, Sir, that your Pulse may beat harmoniously, and your Blood circulate regularly to extream old Age, is the Wish of

LETTER II.

I Received yours, dated the tenth instant, wherein you give me an account of your reception of the last Remedies I sent you; but I am sorry to hear you should be guilty of so great a Mistake, as to think that no [Page 9]Observation of yours can render the use of Medicines subservient towards Health and long Life. Sir, I pray give me leave to assert the contrary, and to prove, that the practice of Piety and true Religion, have a won­derful tendency towards long Life. If you desire to wear a Crown of Glory in this World and the next also, it may be obtained by gray Hairs found in the Way of Righte­ousness: And you know it's promi­sed as a Blessing to the Good man, that he shall come to his Grave in a full Age, as a Shock of Corn comes in its season. The beloved Disciple of our Lord survived the other Disciples; and many of the Fathers of the Church were long-lived: Which shews that the Blessing of long Life, so often promised under the Law, had less abatement after our Savi­ours dayes than other Blessings had, [Page 10] Enoch and Elias never Dyed, and be­came Examples that a spotless Life might possibly have been Immortal, as it is probable that Man before his Fall was: Yet had he never sinned, perhaps he had not still remained here upon Earth; though his Age might have been extended to some thousands of years, and at length have been translated from hence to Heaven, where he could neither have sinned nor dyed.

When our great and wise Crea­tor made Man the Masterpiece of his Creation, he was pleased as an expression of his Kindness to plant him in a Garden, wherein he might have an opportunity at the same time both to Contemplate his Ma­kers Goodness, and to preserve his own Life; being furnisht with su­pernatural Wisdom, he could discern the particular Qualities of those Plants [Page 11]with which he conversed: But Man being too familiar with the Tree of Knowledge, forfeited his Right unto the Tree of Life, and hath exposed himself unto the assaults of innume­rable Diseases. But such is the kind­ness of Heaven unto Man in his lap­sed state, that he is pleased to pro­mise some of the Influences of this Symbolical Tree, upon his Obedience unto the Divine Will: So that by our Observance of the Eternal Laws of Evangelical Purity, which are prescribed as the Christians Rule, we may as it were transplant the Tree of Life into our own Gardens, and sit under the shadow thereof with great Delight, and its fruit may become sweet unto our taste: There are certain practices which have a great tendency towards long Life; and this the inspired Penman intimates when he saith, Righteousness [Page 12]tendeth to life; and there are frequent Promises of long Life made to the Obedient. Caleb and Joshua survived all the Jews who came out of Egypt, the rest were not suffered to see Ca­naan, lest they should introduce Egy­ptian Innovations. Nothing doth more conduce unto the preservation of our natural Health, than our living the Divine Life; but when our Expe­ctations and Actions are wholly em­ployed about the Gratifications of the Animal Life, we do but pre­pare for the Messenger of the Grave. The practice of serious Christianity is a great friend unto the Health of Humane Nature. The circumstan­tial actions of Religion are very in­fluential towards the lengthning mens Lives; as the sweet sleep of tempe­rate persons, their freedom from violent and enraged Passions, with the admirable Contentment that [Page 13]dwells in a holy Conscience; also the great Moderation that's exerci­sed by such Persons. There are at­tending the Divine Life leisurely Contemplations of Heavenly things, Joyes refined from the Dregs of Sen­suality, Hopes of a noble and gene­rous nature, wholsom, sweet and comfortable Fears, and a universal Harmony in the Mind. These things make the Lamp of Life burn bright and clear; and from hence by the favour of Divine Clemency Health springeth forth speedily. Pla­to's Observation is excellent, That all the Pleasures of the Body proceed from the Joy of the Mind: The breaking off our sins by Righteousness, many times proves a lengthening of our temporal Tranquility. The Jewish Doctors say, That Adam felt no Cold notwithstanding he was naked, because he had Communion with [Page 14]God; but as soon as ever he had eaten the forbidden Fruit, his Head aked. Faith and Obedience, like the Tree of Life in Paradise, not only Sacramentally but really conduce unto Health and long Life, so far as it is a Blessing; and this it doth by impregnating our Food with the tincture of a Divine Benediction, by meliorating our Constitutions, and in­fusing wholsom Dispositions in the Air, and Friendly Influences in the Host of Heaven. The Jews came under a Promise of having their Bread and their Water blessed, and Sickness removed, if they obeyed the Divine Law: And Solomon urgeth the consideration of our Health as a strong Argument to promote holy and Religious Fear; telling us it should be health unto our Navels, and marrow to our Bones: And Godliness hath the promise of the Life that now is, as [Page 15]well as of that which is to come: If men love Life, and desire many dayes, and make it their request to obtain the Divine Wisdom, the way prescribed is to desist from evil, and to do good, and then length of dayes and long life shall be added, as the Wisest of men observed. Yielding Subjection unto the Father of Spi­rits, is as sure a way to obtain the Blessing of Health and long Life as Obedience unto our natural Pa­rents; for there is a Command with a Promise annexed unto both. And we find Life in the Inventory of a Christians goods, when drawn up by the great Apostle of the Gentiles. And the inspired Pen-men frequent­ly prescribe Religion as an Antidote against immature Death, it being a direct Enemy unto Sin which brought in Sickness. True goodness doth as well conduce to the prolongation of [Page 16]the Body in natural Life, as to its Immortality in Eternal Life; and the Body hath the perfection of Life, viz. Health from the Soul, as well as Life it self: Dying unto sin is an excellent means to preserve Life, if men would try the Experiment, and endeavour to procure the Divine Providence to be their Life-Guard. We live by the Word of Blessing out of the Mouth of God; every Command, if observed, like Food and Physick tends unto the lengthening our Dayes: Now although it be a known truth, that of our selves we can do nothing; yet it is as true, that by the Grace of God we may do much in the practice of Religion, and consequently may contribute to­wards the lengthening of our Dayes, and rendering the use of Medicines effectual towards that great and no­ble end. Moreover, Religion secures [Page 17]Men from the Terrors of a guilty Conscience, which many times makes Men wash their Hands in their own blood; and it also preserves Men from the Condemnation of Humane Tribunals, many being cut off by the Hand of Justice, for their flagi­tious impieties, as Murders, Thefts and Rapines. But Sir, that the great Pre­server of Men may so ballance the Humours in your Body, that you may live to see the accomplishment of all your good Wishes, is the hearty Wish of him who hath no more time left at present, than to tell you that he is and will be

LETTER III

THis comes to Kiss your Hand, and to make an Inquiry af­ter the happy Success of the last Re­medies, and also to encourage your Perseverance in their use, although you do not presently find them answer your expectation: for I hope you do not expect Medicines to Operate meerly by their natural Energy in­fused into them at their first Creati­on, but also know that their effica­cy doth depend primarily upon the Pleasure of the Divine Will, who hath limited the periods of humane Life: We Live not at an Adventure, but the manner and Moments of our Life and Death come under a Divine ap­pointment, and the success of all Reme­dies [Page 19]depends upon the peculiar Bles­sing of Heaven. The most Infallible way to have our Distempers remo­ved, is to endeavour to procure the concourse of that Divine Influence, and to engage the Soveraign Power of that Almighty Healer, unto whom belong the Issues from Death. Though our Lord was not corporally present with Lazarus, yet he knew without Creature Intelligence that he was Dead, and told his Disciples so; God also told Samuel that Moses was Dead. It matters not who Plants or Waters, if God denies to give the Increase. The Divine Favour is the best Skreen to shelter men from the innumera­ble Accidents of Humane Life, in which every Minute we are Sur­rounded with a Thousand Deaths and dangers. When the great Pre­server of Men withdraws his pro­tection, we are left exposed to the [Page 20]malignant Aspects of Planets, to the fatal Contingencies of Wars and Bat­tels, and are indanger'd by every Ac­cident; the Dust of a Wheel, the fall of a Tile, the largeness of a Morsel, the Lash of a Whip, the unevenness of a Stone, the Plenty of a Hu­mour, may stop our Breath. It is a confest truth, that every natural mo­tion hath its beginning, duration and period, dependent on the pleasure of the first Mover: now the Life of Man being a nutural motion, our Nativity and Death are both order­ed by that Omnipotent Agent, in whom we live, move, and have our being. The Disciples themselves could not cure Diseases at all times, if they could, St. Paul would not have left Trophimus Sick at Miletum, nor have Sorrowed so much for Epaphroditus's Sickness. The Life of Man consisting in a requisite Harmony of Qualities, [Page 21]and in a due commixture of the na­tural Heat and radical moisture, which Harmony is more or less, according unto the more or less exquisite tem­perament of Body assigned unto each single Person, by the free dispensa­tion of the Divine Will, it must fol­low that the continuance of every man in this natural Life, depends up­on the pleasure of him who hath de­termined our Days, numbered our Months, and set our Bounds, which we cannot pass without his leave who gave us the durability of our temperaments, and compassed our pe­riods within the Circle of his speci­al Providence. To imagine the Life of Man fixt beyond the possibility of being prolonged or shortened by an Almighty pleasure, seems highly unreasonable; because he hath re­served a power in his own Hands to contract or prorogue as he pleaseth; [Page 22]Sometimes Divine Wisdom best know­ing his own Reasons, doth resolve the Death of some Persons, and then the most proper Remedies are used in vain, either towards the removal of Sickness, or the preservation of Health. The universal Conserver of all things, takes notice of the princi­pal and subsequent Causes of things, Governing, Disposing and Ordering according unto his own free Will, and yet his Government is void of any fatal Violence, and comes to an efficiency from the ordination of va­rious natural causes and humane elections, which prove the occasions of supporting or destroying Life. Di­vine goodness doth not abolish, but Disposeth of future Contingencies with­out nulling the freedom of the Agent; he moderates and governs Events ac­cording to his pleasure, and yet suffers the Creature to exercise its own pro­per [Page 23]motions. The rage of Men and Devils cannot accelerate the motions of Divine Providence. A Sparrow doth not fall to the ground, much less a man into the Grave, without a Divine Permission. The Manner and Moments of our death are not the effects of Contingency: To God the Lord belongs the Issues from death, or in the Original, the Inlets to Death, viz. Diseases. Natural Remedies are but like Elijah's Staffe layd upon the dead Child, they will not help unless a supernatural vertue concurs. The Egy­ptians in their Temples had a remark­able Hieroglyphick, A Young man, an Old man, and a Hawk in the middle: Intimating, the Beginning and Period of humane Life depends upon the Influence of divine Provi­dence. Josiah's death might seem the effect of Juvenile rashness in War, but it conduced towards the accom­plishment [Page 24]of Huldah's Prophecy. The Advice of the Philistine Diviners is ve­ry observable: When the People were smitten with Hemorrhoids, they pre­scribed the offering up of golden He­morroids, thinking by that mystical Remedy to appease the Displeasure of Heaven; and to intimate, that they thought the best of their Sub­stance not valuable, to purchase Health; but chiefly to represent their Belief that the Cure of Diseases de­pended upon a divine Influence.

Many smart the longer under the Rod of God, because they eye not the Hand that moves it. The Rab­bins say, when Jeroboam's Hand wi­ther'd, the false Prophets told him it came by Chance, thereby to divert his reflections from the first Cause. Some have observed, that the best way to cure the Kings-Evil is by the Stroak of the Kings Hand; and sure the [Page 25]best way to remove the smart of Di­stempers inflicted by the Hand of God, is to consider that it is his Hand: No man knows, when Divine Providence, who hath the Pen in his Hand, and writes down the Days and Actions of our Lives, will be pleased to set a Comma of Afflictions, or a Period of Death. The Weights and Plummets of Mans restless Im­patience, cannot make the Clock of Gods appointed time strike one Mi­nute sooner than he hath set it: And he only hath appointed how many tedious Dayes and wearisome Nights we shall have, before the bright Morning of Eternity dawn upon us. The reason why Natural Remedies do many times prove ineffectual, is because there is a Determinate season wherein all Persons and things must have their final issue. Thus we find Moses died the Year before the Peo­ple [Page 26]entred into Canaan: Daniel some few Years before the Foundation of the Temple: And John the Baptist in the first Year of the Baptism of our blessed Saviour, when the Gospel he began to preach, was to be published in its Glory: At their seasons they must go their wayes to rest, and lie down until they receive their lot at the end of Dayes. If God had not the Dispo­sal of the Lives of Men in his own Hands, what miserable confusions would there be in the World? If Alexander the Great had been strang­led in the Cradle, how could the Pro­phesies of Daniel have been fulfilled concerning him? The Jews could not prejudice the Life of the Lord of Life, until that hour which was ap­pointed to be his last hour was come: For, as it is appointed once to Die, so also when to Die: and that you may enjoy a Long and Healthful [Page 27]Life, and at last a happy Eternity, is the prayer of

LETTER IV.

I Joyfully entertained the welcome News of the good success of your last Remedies, but am sorry to find you attribute all to Necessity; as if because the Period of Humane Life is appointed, and the success of Me­dicines depends upon a Supernatural Concourse; therefore to inferr, we cannot be accessary towards the short­ning of our own Dayes. Sir, it is a fond Opinion, and a great mistake so to think: for the Jews were wick­edly instrumental in taking away the [Page 28]Life of the Lord of Life, notwith­standing they did nothing but what Divine goodness had determined be­fore to be done. The Prophet told Amaziah, he knew God had Deter­mined to destroy him, and yet he al­so tells him, that he was instrumen­tal towards his own Death, in not hearkning unto the Voyce of the Lord. Eli's Sons disobedience pronounced the Sentence of Death against them; and it is rendred as the reason why God had resolved to slay them. The Date of the Old Worlds Duration was fixed to one Hundred and twenty Years; Yet we find it not so long-liv'd by twenty Years; their wickedness con­tracted that which seemed to be a determined period.

At what time soever the Almighty be but pleased to speak concerning a Nation, People or Person, to pluck up, to pull down or to destroy, if [Page 29]that Nation, People or Person turn from their evil way, he will Repent of the intended evil, whether Sickness or Mortality. The flight of that Ar­row which procured King Ahabs Death, was guided by a Divine Hand, who aimed at his Mortal Wounds; yet his rash going to Battel by the advice of his false Prophets, rendred him instrumental towards his own Death. The Evangelical Prophet tells us of a Consumption determined upon the whole Earth, occasion'd by their great Provocations: The Divine determi­nation concerning our Lives should not lessen our care to preserve our Lives. King David understood that the determination concerning the Childs Death was past, yet he prayed and used means to restore it. It's a Turk­ish Principle, to dream that because the manner and moments of Mens Deaths are appointed, therefore to [Page 30]think it Vanity and Cowardice to arm our selves, or Antidote our Bo­dies against the injuries of War and Assaults of Diseases.

A Man may live out all Gods time, who wickedly shortens his own, and may be permitted to do those for­bidden Acts which inevitably tend to his own destruction, and cut the Thred of his Dayes.

The Israelites Murmuring anticipa­ted their Funerals, and Buried them in the Wilderness, notwithstanding their Promise of seeing Canaan. The Impiety of the old World, brought a Deluge, which possibly might have been prevented, had their Repentance been as visible as that of Ninive, who were Reprieved from Execution, af­ter the Sentence of Death seemed Pass­ed upon them, their Reformation pre­vented Ruine and Destruction.

The addition of fifteen Years to [Page 31] Hezekias's Life, was the result of the Divine Favour, but not without signal demonstrations of Repentance. The Rabins tell us of one going to gather his Remedies prescribed by King So­lomon against his peculiar Distemper, was met by an Apparition of Death in the shape of a Skeleton, which told him with an audible Voice it was too late, for he was struck by the Angel who kept the Key of the Grave. The Moral is obvious enough to a wise man, unto whom a word is enough: And I pray Sir excuse this unravelling my Thoughts in such a ruffled manner from

LETTER V.

THese Medicines the Doctor hath now Prescribed, I have con­veyed unto you according unto your desire; the Directions are given with the particular Parcels: and I am of Opi­nion that a firm belief that men may be many wayes accessary towards the shortning their own dayes, may much conduce towards the good Success of Remedies, by exciting greater care and circumspection, and greater Pi­ety and Prudence in the management of our selves. Sin and Wickedness doth apparently shorten Life and multiply Diseases. The Life of Man seems to be much pared away, but it cannot be artributed unto any Decay in Nature, [Page 33]and its universal Frame; but rather un­to the great Immorality and Impru­dent extravagancy of Nations and Persons indulging effeminate, luxuri­ous and pernicious Customs. Sin brought Death at first; and as Sin in­creased, so Death came nearer by five hundred years. After the Flood men sinned still, and built Castles in the Air, and then Death came nearer by three hundred years: And by Moses's time a great part of that remnant is pared away, and threescore and ten is the period: Had offended Justice gone on still to shorten mens dayes as men encreased in Sin, our Life by this time had not been a Day long; and therefore he no longer destroys the Kind, but punisheth the Indivi­duals, and sets it down as a standing Rule, That evil shal slay the Wicked, and he shall not live out half his dayes. We cannot now observe one [Page 34]in five hundred arrive at that Age unto which they might attain by the course of Nature, but end their dayes in Sin and Folly. From surfeiting pro­ceeds dissolutions of Members, re­laxations of Nerves, fractures of Bones, Inflamations of Blood, Crudities of the Stomack, besides the uncleanly Consequences of Lust, which like a Dart strikes through the Liver. Our great Creator hath composed our Bo­dies like Lamps, and to supply the Oyl consumed by the flame, hath given us Appetites of Hunger and Thirst, and Reason to guide our Ap­petites, and the Revelation of his Will to guide our Reason; but if men through the depravation of Nature, and the predominancy of Temptati­on, suffer their Appetites to dethrone their Reason, and give way to In­temperance, which extinguisheth Na­tures Lamp, by corrupting the Oyl, [Page 35]or spilling it, or blowing out the flame; men may then justly expect to be cut off in the midst of their dayes, and to be made a Sacrifice un­to their overmuch wickedness. I'ts not improbable that Baalam's wish to dye the Death of the Righteous, did not only include his being saved at last, but also that he might come to his grave in a good old age, with his Fathers in peace, and might not be cut off like the Moabites and other Nations, who were to perish in their wicked­ness before his eyes. Since Man-kind Bruised himself with his Fall, he hath corrupted his Blood, and sowed the Seeds of innumerable Diseases: We daily feel the smart of our first Sen­tence, viz. Thou shalt dye the Death; or, In Dying thou shalt Dye, or, Thou shalt become exposed unto Sickness and Death. Men may naturally be said to Die daily, mouldering away by [Page 36]piece-meal. The forbidden Fruit hath produced a Worm that eats our Lives away. The malicious Serpent hath bruised our heel, as is observed in the Jerusalem Targum, supposed to be said to the Serpent by Almighty God, viz. When the Children of the Woman shall forsake the Commandments of the Law, thou shalt be strong, and shalt strike them on the Heel, and inflict Diseases on them. We are like men going from Jerusa­lem to Jericho, half dead; the Sick and the Aged being but half alive, as some Criticks observe, senex quasi se­minex. With the same Motion of our Lungs we draw in Air, we throw away Breath. Some parcels of our selves steam away continually, and we live a dying Life, or a living Death. Men have shortned their dayes by increasing their Vices. Some men do that by Intemperance which the very Devils desire to shun, viz. Tor­ment [Page 37]themselves before their time: No impious Person was ever said in Scripture to be full of Dayes; none be­ing full of time, but they that are prepared for Eternity. And we ne­ver Read in the Holy Book, of any impenitent person that was ever raised from the dead, to trye a second time for a Crown: Lazarus, Tabitha and the Saints at Jerusalem, came into the World only to make a Visit and de­clare a Glory, and to them it hap­pened literally to have their part in the first Resurrection, upon whom the Second death shall have no pow­er. Julian's Motto may fit every Man, An Eagle shot through with a Dart fea­ther'd with a Quill from its own Wing. The Life of Man is swifter than a Weavers Shuttle, especially if wicked­ness be interwoven, then divine Justice cuts the thread; excellently shadow­ed by the Poets Fiction of the three [Page 38]fatal Sisters: The one holding the Distaff, the other drawing the Thread, the third cutting it off. Mens Impie­ties, like Hazaels wet Cloath, prove fatal unto their Lives and Healths, in spite of the most proper Reme­dies. When Sin and Sickness is min­gled together, no marvel to see Mens Bodies moulder, being like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, made of Clay. It's no wonder to see a strange punishment to happen unto the work­ers of Iniquity. The Jews are very often threatned with fore Sicknesses and wonderful Plagues, if they did not hearken unto the divine Law. That a wicked Life procures a short one, we find plainly exemplified in most of the Bad Kings of Judah and Israel, as A [...]ijam, Athaliah, Ahaziah, Na­dab, Elah, Omri, and many others; who reigned but two, three or four years apiece; and the reasons are [Page 39]sometimes recorded, that it was for their sins which they sinned, they shortned their Lives with their King­doms; in them sin and a sudden death reigned together. When mens Lusts have conceived, they bring forth Sin, and Sin when it is finished, brings forth Death. Pharaoh's bloody Persecution drowned him in the Red Sea. Ahab's cruelty proved fatal to his own Life. The Samaritan Lords infidelity pressed his Soul out of his Body. Hananiah's false Prophesie did but predict his own death. Ahaziah's evil Consultation with the God of Ekron, to know whether he should recover of his Sick­ness, made his Disease prove incu­rable. The calumniating rage of the Children against the good old Pro­phet, excited the rage of Bears to de­vour their Bodies. Herod's vain-glo­rious Ostentation brought such a Dis­ease upon his Body, whereof he had [Page 40]no reason to boast. Saphira's Perjury summoned the feet of those who had carried her Husband to his Grave, to carry her unto the same place. Ben­hadad's Curiosity proved the fatal Messenger of his death, the Prophet returning Answer that he might re­cover, but should surely dye. Jero­boam's Idolatry in praying unto false gods, provoked the true God to stop his breath. Saul's disobedience unto the King of Kings, brought the King of terrors. Belshazzer for his riotous Revelling, by a Hand-writing on the Wall had the end of his Life and Kingdom denounced against him. Nadab and Abihu offering strange Fire, had a stranger fire sent to devour them. The Pride of the Daughters of Sion changed their sweet Smells in­to a Stink, and their well-set Hair into Baldness. The Candle of the Wicked is often put out, and the [Page 41]Number of his Months cut off in the Middle. But, Sir, that no Cloud may have power to discompose the Serenity of your dayes, but that you may enjoy a Spring of Happiness in the Winter of Age, and may want nothing but Want it self, shall never be left out of the Prayers and Wishes of

LETTER VI.

I Received your dated the sixth instant, wherein you seem to wonder, that the Cause of your dis­ease is not long since removed, and you restored unto a state of health. I beseech you give me leave to deal [Page 42]plainly, and to tell you that there are Moral as well as Natural Causes of diseases; and unless both be re­moved, Remedies very often prove ineffectual: And the sincere belief of this conduceh very much towards the success of Medicines. Many of the Church of Corinth were sick and weak, and lost their Lives, for their unworthy reception of the Holy Sup­per. If men contemn the Sacred Bo­dy of the Son of God, how can they expect the Almighty goodness should take care of their bodies? and if they neglect to commemorate his Death, they have little reason to expect he should regard their Lives, although precious in his sight is the Death of his Saints. Miriam's Sedition raised a tumultous disturbance in the harmo­ny of her health: The dissimulation of Gehaza's Tongue procured the Le­prosie upon his Skin: Uzziah's invade­ing [Page 43]the Priests office, and Burning Incense, caused the divine displeasure to smoke against him. Abimelech was restored to his health, when he restored Abrahams Wife, but not be­fore: When our blessed Saviour cu­red the man sick of a Palsie, he for­gave him his sins, to shew him they were the cause of his sickness. We may observe in our Saviours dayes, that Infidelity did as it were tye up the hands of Omnipotence, and set bounds to the operation of his migh­ty Works on mens bodies. St. An­selm observes, that the reason why diseases did so much abound in his time, was, because the holy Eucha­rist was irreverently received at Easter. Jezabel for her Impenitence is threatned to be cast into a bed, and her Children to be killed with Death: Good men may dye, but they can­not be killed with Death: The Pro­phets [Page 44]are frequently Menaced with Death and Sickness, that shall presume to speak without a Mission from Hea­ven. In vain are external Remedies applyed, when the Cause is internal: The Fable of the Kite when sick, im­ploring help and recovery, but being denyed by reason of her rapine and violence; it affords an excellent Mo­ral. The sickness of the Body is some­times designed to promote the Health of the Soul; and the Leprosie on Naa­mans Flesh may conduce towards the whitening of his Mind: They are sent as tryals of Grace, and are Declara­tive of Divine mercy. When the Question was asked our Saviour, Who sinned, this Man or his Parents, that be was born Blind? Our Lord Answer­ed, Neither this Man nor his Parents; but it was for the Declaration of Divine Mercy, that the work of God might be made manifest in his won­derful [Page 45]Cure and Recovery: Also the sickness of Lazarus was designed for the Glory of God, and Honour of our Saviour, that he might have an oppor­tunity to manifest his Divine Power. Hyppocrates adviseth Physitians, to search if there be not something Divine in the Causes of Diseases. The Living man seldom complains with­out giving his maker a cause to in­flict punishment; for the righteous Judge doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men: There is some Babilonish Garment hath in­fected the Body with Leprosie, or some spiritual disease in the mind, that hath procured the thorn in the flesh, when the Rod of God utters it's voice, and men are fed with the Bread of Affliction and with the Water of Adversity, in order to cure the tympany of Pride, the Feavour of Passion, the Dropsie of Covetous­ness. [Page 46]The plague in the Body is some­times sent to cure the Plague in the Heart: Sin is that root of bitterness from whence all our troubles in the flesh spring up. Men are like Baa­lam, when any thing pains or hurts their Bodies, are apt to Blame and strike the External Instrument, but never mind the Angel that stands in the way with a drawn Sword, and caused that instrument to hurt. There are many happy intentions Divine goodness aims at in laying diseases on mens bodies: Sometimes the sacrificing Knife is laid upon the neck of an Isaac, to try whether the indulgent Parent will prefer the life of his natural Son before the Will of his heavenly Father. When men come to perceive that there is no soundness in their flesh, nor rest in their bones, because of their trans­gressions, and that it was their own [Page 47]wickedness that corrected them, and procured the Plagues, the Consump­tions, the Inflamations and extream burnings, that attended as Pages up­on their pride, wantonness, intempe­rance and carnality; and this produ­ceth a strict commune with their hearts upon their sick beds, so that they make a Diligent search into the causes of their Distempers; then they find a rebuke given unto the disease. Sir, I pray excuse this great freedom, from one who I hope shall not stand in need of many words to perswade you, that he is

LETTER VII.

AMongst the many things which conduce towards the rendring the use of Remedies effectual, I think nothing can contribute more than our endeavour to use those Means which may be influential towards the pro­curing the divine Blessing: And amongst many others, I judge these that follow are very considerable: To begin with a serious Repentance for our former Miscarriages, which often proves very successeful towards Health and Recovery. The Israelites Repentance proved a Soveraign Plai­ster against the Stings of the fiery Serpents: And King Davids Remorse prevailed with the destroying Angel to sheathe his Sword, after the slaugh­ter [Page 49]of Seventy thousand People. Re­hoboams Repentance at the preaching of Shemaiah, prevented the destruction of himself and his Princes. When mens flesh is consumed, and they are afflicted with strong pains upon their Beds, then the Almighty looks upon Men, to see if any say they have sinned and perverted that which is right, to deliver them from going down to the pit, that their Lives may see the light. When the Divine hand binds men with Fetters, and holds them in the Cords of Affliction, then he shews them their work and their transgressi­on, that they have exceeded: Then he opens their Ears to Discipline, and com­mands that they return from Iniquity; If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their Dayes in Prosperity, and their Years in Pleasure: But if they obey not, they shall Dye in their Youth, for God pre­serveth not the Life of the wicked, as Elihu [Page 50]tells Job: The sick Bed is the attiring room of the Grave, in which Men should be preparing themselves for the Solemnities of their Funerals: by lingering Distempers men are gradu­ally putting off their Vail of Flesh, to be Cloathed upon with their house which is from Heaven. When Sickness hath done its Errand, and accomplished the end for which it was sent, then it re­ceives a Commission to depart; its that which leads Men by the Hand unto their long homes, and gives them a Prospect of that House appointed for all Living: Diseases are sent to unravel humane Nature, but when the inward Man is renewed by the De­cayes of the outward, and men hold fast their Integrity, notwithstanding the Almighty toucheth their Bone and their Flesh, and bodily Pain give a prospect of endless Pleasure, then the Disease many times takes its leave. [Page 51]When Sickness makes Men sensible of the Vanity of Beauty and Strength, which a blast of Wind, or a lump of Phlegme may take from them, when it makes Men listen unto the Striking of the Clock of Time with greater Attention, and excites their endeavours to render Death a stingless Serpent, then the great part of the Cure is perform­ed: when Men are as 'twere knock­ing at the gates of the Grave by Tor­tures and Agonies of Body, and the blow of Gods heavy Hand presseth Men sore, so that a Man may read the Sentence of some Mens Deaths written in their Foreheads, in the lines of a lingering Disease, the difficult mo­tion of their Lungs to draw in Air, be­ing like a Passing-Bell alwayes sound­ing in their Ears, yet upon their sin­cere Repentance many times comes a Reprieve. When the Arrows of the Almighty, viz. Diseases, fly thick in [Page 52]the world, and are shot sometimes into Mens Lungs, and sometimes in­to their Joynts and Hearts, and give denomination unto various Diseases; there they will stick untill pulled out by an Omnipotent Hand, a firm be­lief of whose Divine Power, doth mightily conduce towards the procu­ring the Blessing of Heaven with the use of Remedies. The Power of our Blessed Lord is the same now in Hea­ven as when on Earth, his Hand from Heaven can reach all our Maladies, and cure, like the Weapon Salve, at a distance; if Men did but act a vigo­rous Faith and a holy Confidence in the Divine Providence, and as it were touch the Hem of their Saviours Gar­ment, they would quickly find a heal­ing Virtue go forth towards their Cure. When Men are disquieted by Pains, and cast down by Sickness, their only way to Recovery, is to hope in him [Page 53]who is the Health of their Counte­nance, and in quietness and confi­dence they will find Strength. To hum­ble our selves under the mighty Hand of God, is the way to be exalted to Health in his due time. Acts of Faith are engaging, and the way to obtain the Divine Power, is to glorifie it in our dependance. When Miracles were in their full force, the effect is alwaies ascribed unto Faith; our Saviour told the Woman her Faith had made her whole. Again, humbly to implore the help of that great Physician who was Typified by the Brazen Serpent, would be a very effectual means to be cu­red both of the Sting and Pain of Sickness: It well becomes the most holy Soul under Distempers, to abound with an O Spare me, that I may recover Strength. When Men are like Moses, commanded to go up into a Mount, [Page 54]as it were, of a Sick-Bed, and Dye there, the same Hand that Wound­ed must make whole: many lose their Lives for want of asking it at his Hands, who grants it if Invited to our Bed-sides by fervent Prayers, joyned with Faith and Patience. When the only wise God resolves to make Men sick with smiting them, they ought to beware of Murmuring and Impatience, which doth exasperate all Calamities; it being far more ad­vantageous towards recovery, patient­ly to hope and quietly to wait for the Salvation of God; for they that wait upon the Lord have a Promise they shall renew their Strength, and be saved with a temporal as well as a spiritual Salvation, if they continue in Faith and Patience with Sobriety. The Poets have an excellent Fiction, that the Image of the Goddess Augerine was [Page 55]with a Muffler at her Mouth, placed at the Temple of Volupia; signifying that Pleasure should be their Portion who bear Sicknesses with Patience, Si­lence and Submission.

Good Men never question the Di­vine Favour so much at any time as under sickness; because the Body dis­composeth the Mind, and hinders the free exercise of spiritual Reason: be­sides, they have not such express com­fort from their Saviours Sufferings; for we never read he was ever Sick, yet he had Passions equivalent to Sick­ness, as Hunger, Thirst, Weariness, which afflicted his Body with Pain, and therefore can be toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities: The best way to obtain Cure, is by the Pow­er of a Divine Faith to shake off Diseases as St. Paul did the Viper from his Hand. And Sir, that the [Page 56]great Physician may make your Soul like his Body in the Gospel, every whit whole, shall be the Desire of

LETTER VIII.

I Received yours dated the Second of this Month, wherein you acknow­ledge your self a Convert unto the several Arguments of Discourse which have formerly passed between us; but you seem very much to doubt whe­ther humane Prudence, Care and Art can any way contribute unto long Life: And that they may be very subservi­ent [Page 57]thereunto, there is nothing more plain and evident. Certainly King Da­vid's departing from Keylak diverted Sauls Rage, and preserved his own Life for that time: And our blessed Savi­ours own practice in preserving him­self until the time he knew that his hour was come, is recorded for our Imi­tation. St. Pauls Mariners saved their Lives by abiding in the Ship, who otherwise in all probability might have been Drowned: The Wisdom of Joseph and Mary in observing the Angels advice, and flying into Egypt with the blessed Babe, in all humane probabili­ty it prevented his Death at Bethlehem. The Centurion Importun'd our Savi­our to cure his Servant, which he would never have done, if it had not conduced towards the prolongation of his Life. 'Twas not without cause that Naomi was foretold Obed should be a restorer of her Age. As fire dies for [Page 58]want of air, and is extinguished when the flame is suffocated; so doth our vital flame: as our Spirits are repair­ed by Air, so are our sanguine Hu­mours by Aliments. Much may be done by Art for the retarding the course of Nature, as may be seen in many Insects and Animals, and in Men restored from Consumptive pine­ing Sicknesses, their flesh becoming like that of Children, as in Naamans Case: The efficacy of Remedies with some is so great, that their Youth is as 'twere renewed like the Eagle, their natural strength not abating at a great Age: Moreover, it doth not seem pro­bable that means should be used with good success to answer all other inten­tions in Nature, and be used in vain in attaining that which is the most desi­rable thing in Nature, and which ren­ders a Man capable of perfection in all Arts and Sciences, viz. Health. And [Page 59]yet as none can speak of Death by experience, because they who speak of it have not felt it, and they who have felt it cannot speak of it; the Case is much the same concerning Life: For unless a Man live unto ex­tream old Age, he will not believe his Life hath been prolonged, but rather that his hour was not yet come: but yet it's not inconsistent with reason to say, that he who would Infallibly have Dyed of a Gangreen in his Leg, hath had his Life prolonged, when his Leg was Cured; or to say, that a Consump­tive Body hath been saved from Death, when restored to a healthful State by a Medicinal Diet, which hath added Oyl to the Lamp of Life. The Nectar and Ambrosia of the Poets, which kept their gods from growing old, seems to be an Emblem of the Tree of Life, which was to have been a Restorer of Nature, as well as a Sym­bal [Page 60]of future things. Suppose we with Pithagoras, that Life is a strait line, and that the accidents which di­sturb it, and at length bring Death, constitute another Line; and as these two lines incline less or more one towards another, Death approaches sooner or later, and consequently Life is longer or shorter; yet may we not suppose that Divine Providence and hu­mane Prudence may probably conduce towards the retarding the Neighbour­hood of those lines? Or suppose with the Aristotelians, that Life consists in the union of Heat and Moisture, and Death approacheth by the Predomi­nance of the contrary Qualities, viz. Cold and Dryness; why may not such means as preserves the former, and keeps back the latter, have a na­tural tendency to prolong Life? Or suppose with the Chymists, that Life con­sists in a volatile Armoniack Salt, why [Page 61]may we not suppose that Art impro­ved, may compose such fixed Alkali, as may stop the wingy motions of the former Volatility?

The pleasing gratifications of Sense walk Hand in Hand with Death, and pursueth Mortals as the Waves of the universal Deluge did the Posterity of Cain; and though they went from one story to another, higher and higher, yet at last they were overflowed. Though Temperance doth not alwayes prove an Antidote against Sickness, yet it's a likely means. Sir, I pray distribute my Service where you think it's due, for it is time to come to a full point, and to tell you that in Truth I am

LETTER IX.

I Received yours dated the 11^th in­stant, wherein you give me an account of the great Sickness and Mortality of your Town and Coun­trey, now Languishing under this Epidemick Feaver, which indeed ra­geth in the City also, and carrieth hun­dreds, if not thousands unto their long Homes. You may easily believe that there are greater Languors, Sicknesses, Weaknesses and decayes of Nature now than in former Ages; (though thanks be to God, Pestilences have not been very fatal of late years) and we observe from our weekly Bills of Mor­tality, that the numbers of the de­ceased are greatly augmented; for in [Page 63]the year 1604. there dyed 4323, and 895 of the Plague: but in the year 1659. there dyed 14720, and 36 of the Plague; and yet we observe near the same number of persons Born and Christned both years; so that the Disproportion is near nine Thou­sand in a year in about sixty years distance. We may observe in the space of sixty years, so small a spot of ground as a Church-yard swal­lowes up a whole Parish. I knew an old Sexton in London, who told me he lived to Bury his Parish al­most three times over. As one Ge­neration comes on the Stage, ano­ther goeth off: And very evident it is, that more dye now in a state of Childhood than in former Ages. We lick new bodies off our Trenchers once in seven years; and the very fear of a Clymacterical Year hath Killed some, who have not under­stood [Page 64]how groundless such a fear is. In the dayes of Ancient times it was a strange thing to hear of the death of a young Child, according unto the ordinary course of Nature. Some of the Jewish Doctors tell us, that there was not a Son dyed of a natu­ral death before his Father for near three thousand years after the Crea­tion; but the course of Nature was observed, and he that was born first, dyed first; untill Terah's time, who was the first that taught the People to make Images of Clay, and to cor­rupt Divine Worship with Idolatry; and as a punishment of his Sin, his son Haran was snatcht away before him; and Moses observes, that Haran dyed before his Father Terah, in the Land of his Nativity: And we find it was looked upon as a great Judg­ment, that the Male Heir of Eli's Fa­mily as soon as born dyed for many [Page 65]Generations; so that an Old man could not be seen of his Posterity. And we find the good Woman ex­postulating passionately with the Pro­phet, when she saith, Art thou come to call my Sins to remembrance, and to slay my Son? Every Age hath its pe­culiar diseases: In the state of Infancy Life is like a Spark in a pile of Wood; the Candle is so newly lighted, that every breath of Air, or the least shaking puts it out, and it dyes. Childhood is so active and unwary, so subject to run into dangers, that unless a Messenger be sent from Heaven, to stand Sentinel and watch its playing, sleeping, eating and drinking, it's ex­posed to death every minute. The Middle age is apter to lend its help­ing hand to the use of Remedies, but when we consider how many new distempers invade us, and how many old ones intermingled with collateral [Page 66]complications, and many Diseases are not fully understood as in time they may be; and many Symptoms are often alike, and sometimes there are none at all, as in several Impostumes; and some Diseases are lodged in re­mote parts of the Body, that often­times no application can be made, or at least the effects of Medicines can­not reach them untill after two or three Alterations and Concoctions, which change the Species of Medi­cines: And sometimes new Me­thods come upon the Stage, and al­ter old Foundations. Old Age hath Diseases incurable by nature. The House must fall when the Foundation is decayed. Old men in Scripture ac­count are said to be as good as dead, as Abraham was. In some Diseases the Patient seems Bailable, yet a di­stemper lyeth in ambush, and sets upon him with full strength, when [Page 67]the bitterness of death seemed to be past: and some men live and dye like Fools, pour in Drink and let out Life, and so by inconsideration pull the Monumental Stone upon their own heads. Men are like Water, if the Sluces be opened it runs away apace, if the Current be stopt it swells and grows troublesome, and spills over; if it stands still, then it stinks and putrifies. Some Sicknesses walk in darkness, and de­stroying Angels are wrapt up in the Curtains of Immateriality, whom we cannot see but feel: in some Chronick distempers men walk about, and hear Passing-bells ring for stronger men. There is no age of Man but hath some Posterns and Out-lets to death, out of which thousands pass into the Land of Forgetfulness: Every breath of wind troubles our Faces, and our little Cares wrinkle our Foreheads, and trifling accidents dig our Graves. [Page 68]In Feavors men ride post to the Cham­bers of death, they prove a Beesome of Destruction to three parts of Adam's race. If all the ages of all Mankind were put together, it would scarce make One and twenty to each single person. It's more natural for Youth to dye than the Aged, it being more common, having more natural causes, as being more subject to acute Disea­ses, which surprize men suddenly and undiscernably; but to dye of Age, is a very rare Thing; old Age is a young Death. But to speak strictly, all men dye before they come to be of age, every man being within an inch of Death. Like a Mariner at Sea, we carry our Lives in our hands. Many a man in a state of health hath a secret Enemy lying hid, ready to surprize: Either Gods Ar­chers cleave our Reins in sunder with the Stone or Strangury, or our feet [Page 69]are set in the Stocks by the Gout; or our Breath is corrupt by the Pty­sick, or our Gaul is poured on the ground by the Dissentery, or our Skin cleaves to our Bones by a Hectick. The Clock hath struch Twelve this night, therefore take it not ill that I abruptly style my self

LETTER X.

I Received yours Dated the 7^th in­stant, wherein you speak very slightly of old Age, as if you did not look upon it as so great a blessing; and also seem to Question whether the Patriarchs lived so long as some imagine. To which I answer, you [Page 70]are certainly under a great mistake: for nothing is more certain than that the Antediluvian Patriarchs were very long lived; and particularly Father Adam, who may well be accounted above a thousand years old, if we compute that time whch he might have lived had he been born as Me­thusalem was; we may judge him at his Creation as Perfect as one of the Ancients at two hundred: They out­lived all their titles of Consanguini­ty, and yet none of them lived a compleat Thousand years; which pos­sibly might be to accomplish the threatning unto Adam, That the day he eat the forbidden Fruit he should Dye; computing a day for a thou­sand years: But a more probable reason may be, to Demonstrate to Man the Vanity of Life, when those who lived longest, could not arrive to that Period, which compared to [Page 71]Gods Eternity, is but a day. As there are at this day some who exceed a hundred, so there are a hundred times as many who do not arrive at that Period. Had men in all Ages and Places arrived at the age of the Patriarchs, the Earth by this time had not been able to sustain the Inhabi­tants with Food. The Egyptians cal­culated the bounds of mens dayes from the weight of their Hearts; and judged a hundred years the utmost period, taking their estimate from the weight of their Hearts, which they say increaseth two Drachms every year under fifty, and then decreaseth two Drachms untill a hundred: But this opinion seems questionable. The reason given by the Bishops of Rome for Contracting the year of Jubilee from one hundred to fifty, and from fifty to five and twenty, is grounded upon the Supposition that the age [Page 72]of man is contracted. To what causes to consign the long Lives of the An­cients, it need not be Difficult, if we consider how necessary it was so to be, for the propagation of Mankind, and peopling the World with Inha­bitants; and also for the learning Arts and Sciences, wherein it was requi­site Men should have the experience of former Ages: For as many Sensa­tions breed an Experiment, so many Experiments breed a Science. The se­veral motions of the Heavenly Bo­dies could not be known, without a long time to observe their Motions and Revolutions. It was an old com­plaint, that Art was long, and Life was short, and therefore Almighty God pro­portioned mens lives accordingly. We now account him wondrous Old who lives fourscore Summers, to see the Resurrection of the Year fourscore times. The length of mens age since [Page 73] Moses dwelt amongst us, seems con­siderably abbreviated, he computing Threescore and ten the ordinary pe­riod unto which men generally arri­ved in those times: Whereas now a third part of all that are born in po­pulous Cities dye under seven years old; and the greatest part of those that are alive, are between fifteen and five and thirty. Few Princes, either Jewish, German, Greek or Roman, arrived at Fourscore. Queen Elizabeth outlived all her Predecessors since the Conquest: And I think his Majesty our present Sovereign (whom God grant long to live) is the eldest Crown­ed Head in Christendom. And it's to me observable, that during the stand­ing of the first Temple there were but eighteen High-priests, but three hundred while the second stood; and but ten years difference between the standing of the former and the latter. [Page 74]Which plainly demonstrates, that mens Lives have been cut and pared away in several Ages. The Fathers in the primitive times had great Advantages for the Prolongation of their Lives, as they had conveyed to them the Nature of Life-preserving Remedies from Adam, who gave Names to all Creatures according to their particu­lar Qualities: And wonderful was their skill in all the Secrets of Nature. Also the Air in the first Ages of the World might be more pure, and not corrupted with terrene Exhalations, as it was after the Flood had drencht it; and for ought we know, its Fruits might be more Nutritive. Moreover, Adam was the immediate Work of God, and being come as it were new­ly from the Shop of his Creator, he could not be like a House built of rotten Timber, but of a far stronger Constitution than this weak Age af­fords: [Page 75]Their Bodies were not wasted with fuccession of Sicknesses, nor wea­ken'd with hereditary Diseases, but were armed to resist those few things contrary to their healths. The semi­nalities of Diseases were not so preg­nantly conveyed from Parent to Child, their Infants were not so tenderly brought up; wastfull Ryot was a stranger to them, and variety of Meats was to them unknown: their Nature was not opprest with burthens, and forced to stagger with her load. We cannot with any shew of Reason pre­tend to mistake in the manner of com­puting the years of the Patriarchs; for if you suppose them to be only Lunar years, and that twelve of theirs made but one of ours, then gross ab­surdities must follow from thence; as that they were Prolifique at seven years of age, Enoch being no more when he begat Methusalem: At that [Page 76]rate the Date of their Lives must be reckoned shorter than many of ours. Moreover, the Scripture saith, that Abraham dyed in a good Old Age, and full of Dayes, being one hundred se­venty and five years old; which Number, according to that computa­tion was but seventeen years and a half; a very ridiculous old Age. But it is very manifest that Moses's compu­tation of the year was the same with ours; for mention is made of the first, second and seventh Month, and men­tion is also made of the seventeenth day of the Month. We find but one Womans Age recorded in Scripture, and that is Sarah: Some give this reason, Because a Woman first occa­sioned the Shortning the Lives of men, by listning to the Serpent. Old Age is doubtless a very great Blessing, be­ing subservient to great and noble ends, namely, our better Preparation [Page 77]for a blessed Eternity: And there are some Priviledges that holy Souls are capable of in this World, which they cannot partake of in the Regions of immortal Bliss, and they are the Opportunities of Doing good to others, and preparing them for the Eternal Mansions, and thereby Brightning their own Diadems, and making their weight of Glory the Heavier by turn­ing many to Righteousness. Which that you may doe, is the Wish of

LETTER XI.

I Received yours dated the Second Instant, wherein you seem to que­stion whether the Practice of Religi­on [Page 78]on have any tendency towards Health and long life; because sometimes good Men Dye suddain and Immature Deaths: But nothing is more plain and evident, than that the Carkasses of good Israelites may fall in the Wil­derness of this World, whose Souls may be entertained in the Heavenly Canaan. A good Prophet, for some single Act of Disobedience, may be made a Prey to a devouring Lyon: If an Eli neglect to Chasten his Re­bellious Children, he may be per­mitted to break his Neck: When Uzzth shall touch the Ark without a Commission, his Death shall imme­diately succeed his Rashness: When a Moses shall neglect to Circumcize his Child, an Angel shall threaten his Life with a drawn Sword: When a Jonas shall go contrary to a Divine Command, he shall be in danger of being swallowed up by Death, as [Page 79]well as by a Whale. Many times Judgment begins at the House of God, and he makes good Men the examples of his Severity in this Life: It's thought that King David's numbering the Peo­ple, was the last Act he did, before he took his Bed. Evil Angels some­times contend with good ones, about the Bodies of good Men: Sampson lost his natural Strength by his Dis­obedience and violation of his Vow, rather than by the meer Cutting off his Hair, it being rather a Moral than a Natural Cause of his Weakness: The Righteous may sometimes be taken away from the evil to come, as the good Patriarchs were before the Flood; and as Abijah was laid to sleep before the Calamity of his Fathers House: And sometimes the Child may derive those Distempered Humours from the Parent, which may prove [Page 80]the occasion of its Death. Though God hath Promised long Life to them that Obey, yet he hath never Pro­mised that he would not sometimes as it were borrow Mens natural Lives, and make a happy exchange, make­ing good his Promise, and answering other ends of his Providence, by re­compencing the loss of a Temporal with the grant of Eternal Life. On the conrrary, because sometimes wic­ked Men live long, to infer Piety hath no Influence on Mens Health and Longaevity, is as great a Mistake; for a long and a wicked Life may be twisted together for Reasons best known to Omnipotence▪ as the Poste­rity of Cain may be longer Liv'd than any of the Patriarchs, being reserved to be punisht in the general Deluge; and Manasseh Reigned longer than any of the Kings of Judah. But no [Page 81]more of this at present, only I be­seech you take me as I am, and ever must be

LETTER XII.

I Received Yours, wherein you Write very contemptuously of the Art of Physick, as if the use of Medicine were not an Ordinance of God, and men were not oblig'd in Conscience to the application of Re­medies: But with your leave, no­thing is more plain and demonstra­ble, than that Physick is a Divine Institution. He who breathed into man the breath of Life, and by an Eter­nal Law hath commanded him not [Page 82]to Kill, but commanded him to Pray for his daily Bread, with all the ne­cessary supports of this Life, hath thereby laid an Obligation upon him, to use all means to preserve both his own and others Lives: Many of the Inspired Pen-men were well Skill­ed in Medicine, particularly St. Luke, who was the Evangelical Amanuen­sis, and Wrote a History of our Bles­sed Saviours Passion and Life, he was called the beloved Physician: and we find the great Doctor of the Gentiles prescribe Wine as a chearing Cordi­al unto his Timothy, under his frequent Infirmities for his Healths sake: nay, the Blessed God is pleased to Style himself the Lord, the Physitian; and the Holy Jesus derives his Name from his healing Nature, and tells us, though the Whole need no Physitian, yet the Sick do: and the Holy Ghost assures us by the Psalmists Pencil, that God hath [Page 83]given Medicines to heal Mens Sicknes­ses. Every man is bound by the Law of God and Nature to endeavour to keep his clayey Tenement in reparation, and if he neglect it and let it run to ruine, he may be in danger of being Indicted at the Bar of Heaven for Dilapidations. The holy Prophet ressecting upon the deplorable Condition of the Church, with The whole Head sick and the whole Heart faint, full of Wounds, Bruises and Putrefactions, being not Bound up nor mollified with Oyntments; plainly intima­ting, how necessary he thought the natural as well as the spiritual Appli­cation of fit Remedies; lamening there was no Balm in Gilead, nor any Phy­sitian there. Jothams Parable may in­struct the World, that not only the Olive, the Figg-tree and the Vine are usefull to chear the Heart of God and man, but also the Bramble hath a healing Vertue in some Distempers. [Page 84]Since the appearance of the second Adam, we may eat of every Tree in the Garden, asking no Question for Conscience sake, for the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof: The wonderful work of Providence is ve­ry apparent in preserving the Seminal Vertue of Plants in the Deluge, when we read not of any Seed secured in the Ark; the Innocent Dove shew­ing a Leaf to the new World, Preacht a Sermon of Divine goodness. The Utility of Physical Remedies, is not only demonstrated by Christians, but also by Jews and Pagans: In the Temple of Aesculapius there was a Fountain of Oyl, with a Golden Arch, a perfect Symbol of Physick, deno­ting its usefulness and Honour. The design of Medicine is not to prevent Death, but to render Life comfortable, and to preserve Natures Lamp burn­ing, until there's no more Oyl to feed [Page 85]it. The Son of Syrack Counsels men to Honour the Physitian with the Ho­nour due unto him; telling us, that God had created him, and hath given Men Skill that he might be Honour­ed in his marvellous works, with the Medicines that he hath Created out of the Earth, to heal Men and take away their pains. Apollo and Aescu­lapius amongst the Greeks were ado­red as gods for the excellency of their Invention in Physick; and the knotty Staff, the Serpent, the Pine-Apple, the Dragon, the Dog, and the Cock, with which the pourtraicture of Aescu­lapius was Beautified, were very sig­nificant Symbols. Medicine hath by barbarous Nations been account­ed Sacred: The Priests of Memphis were bound to Write in the Temple of Isis such Remedies as were found effectual: the same practice the Greeks practised at the Temple of Apollo; [Page 86]Authorizing Medicine by Religion, and Converting Remedies into Ora­cles: The Jews tell us, that at the Temple of Solomon, there hung a long Catalogue of the Vertues of all Plants, collected by Solomon himself; so that if any were Smitten with any Disease, he might go and gather his Reme­dy: And the Holy Prophets in their Descriptions of the Holy Land, re­present the excellency thereof from its abounding with Trees, whose Leaves are good for Medicine. St. James placeth our Visiting the Sick, amongst the parts of that pure Religion which is undefiled before God; and our bles­sed Saviour numbers this Christian Duty amongst those good works, ac­cording unto which we shall receive our final Sentence; when he saith, I was sick and ye Visited me: As the Jews by their particular Laws were con­strained to be at the Charge of Cure [Page 87]unto any whom they had hurt or In­jured in their Health, much more ought men to be concerned for their own Health and Recovery when Sick and Weak. King Asa was not re­prehended for advising with, but for trusting to the Physitians, making them his end, when they were only the means; which was Recorded to In­struct us, that we should use means as if there were no Providence, and yet trust Providence as if there were no Means. When the Mariners in the Ship in which St. Paul Sailed, were in danger of Drowning, he told them they could not be safe unless they did abide in the Ship, notwithstand­ing the Safety of their Lives was promised him. When the Lives of the Jews were in danger, Queen Esther not only appointed a Fast to Implore the Protection of Heaven, but also pre­pared a Feast, the better to prevail [Page 88]with the King. The Prophet David not only Trusted in the Name of the Lord, when he went against Go­liah, but also used his Stone and Sling: So Jacob sent a Present to pacifie the Anger of his Brother, as well as made Supplication to the great Peace-ma­ker. The Bodies of good Men, are the Temples of the Holy Ghost, and neglecting the same, is reputed a part of Will-worship, and strictly pro­hibited. Baalam's Ass may Instruct the World that a merciful Man ought to be merciful to his Beast; how much rather ought he like the Shunamite Woman, take a Journey if the Case require it, for the recovery of a Child from the Jaws of Death? The Life is more worth than Meat, and the Bo­dy than Raiment. The Jews thought their Lives more worth than their Li­berty, for they told the King, If they had been Sold for Bond-men, they [Page 89]had held their Peace. Life is the form of Gods own Oath. Those Bo­dies which are the Members of Christ, ought to have Care and Respect used towards them, that they may be fit for the Service of the Soul. That which was sick was not to be Offer'd in Sacrifice under the Law, and they that are sick, are not fit to Offer Sa­crifices: The Father of Lyes never spake a greater Truth, than when he said, Skin for Skin, and all that a Man hath, will he give for his Life. It's a grand Impiety, under a pretence of Gods Power, to be Disobedient to his Will, in neglecting the means of Health; that's to try what he can do, and yet to neglect what he Com­mands, in not administring those things which are requisite and necessary for the Body. King Solomon, who had a Patent granted him from the King of Heaven, to receive the greatest [Page 90]measure of Wisdom of any Man be­fore or after him, made it his busi­ness to search into the Nature of Ve­getables, from the tallest Cedar, un­to the Hyssop that grows out of the Wall; and though his Gold was so plentiful as to pave his Palace, and he had all the Delights of the Sons of Men, yet he Condescended unto the Study and Improvement of Phy­sick, and tells us, That there is a time to heal; every Herb bearing Seed, being prescribed for Food or Physick by our great Creator. It's not im­probable but that the Sons of the Pro­phets had a Physical Intention in ga­thering the Herbs for their Pottage, al­though they were mistaken in the particular Plant, and gathered a dead­ly, instead of a wholsome one: Ahab understood the usefulness of a Gar­den of Herbs, when he coveted Na­both's Vineyard to Convert it into the [Page 91]same. The good Will of him that dwelt in the Bush, is further decla­red unto Mankind by the Vertue that he hath planted in the Leaves, and Fruit that grow thereon, being use­full for the healing of the Nations in a Natural as well as in a Mystical Sence. Those persons who cut up Mallows by the Roots in Holy Job's time, could not but understand their Physical Vertue: A Dinner of Herbs with Evangelical Charity, is preferr­ed by Solomon, before a Costly Ban­quet; and those Medicinal Herbs of Mint, Annise and Cummin, were so much in use amongst the Jews, that they laid Tithes and Customary Im­positions upon them: It's very pro­bable that the bitter Herbs appointed to be eaten with the Paschal Lamb, were not only Typical but Medicinal. When the Church would make a metaphorical Description of the Ex­ternal [Page 92]and Internal Quallifications of her Beloved, she compares him to those things which are most excel­lent and useful, as Myrrhe, Aloes, Cassia, and all the Chief Spices. Jo­seph used Physitians of old, and the Art of the Apothecary was Imployed, not only to prepare Holy Oyntments for the Consecration of Kings and Priests, but also to compound Medi­cines for the Restoration of Inferior Persons. Sir, I will Discourse no lon­ger upon this Argument, only con­clude with good Wishes, that your Sorrows may be short, and your Joys long, and all your Desires may end according to your own Heart.

LETTER XIII.

I Received your last, which gave me an ample account of the great satisfaction you gained by my late Letter, proving the Divine Original of Physical Remedies: But you seem to question whether any Arguments may be brought from Scripture to prove, That we are not only obliged to the use of means in general, but also to the use of such as are most rational, and such as have the fairest prospect of probability. To me it seems very apparent, that we are to use such as are most agreeable to Reason and Experience: When the extraordinary means of understanding Tongues cea­sed, men made use of rational and [Page 94]ordinary means, by the study of Arts and Sciences: So the Jews in the Wil­derness were miraculously preserved with Quails and Manna, but when they came into Canaan, they were to plow, and sow, and reap, and eat their Bread by their Toyl and Industry. Though we live not by Bread alone, but by the word of Blessing out of the Mouth of God, yet that Blessing is promised to Bread, not to Stones; and he that shall expect to have Stones turned into Bread, doth not trust but tempt his Maker; it being not Faith but Fury, to go down by a Precipice when Stairs are appointed: And ve­ry remarkable it is, that most of the Cures that we find recorded in Scrip­ture, though they were extraordina­ry and miraculous, yet usually some physical Remedies were appointed, which were not disagreeable to Rea­son and Experience: to shew our [Page 95]Obligation not only to the use of Means, but also to the use of such as are most proper, and likely to suc­ceed: Indeed our blessed Saviour cu­red some by his Word alone, and by seeming improbable means, thereby to discover his extraordinary power, in doing that which no mortal man could do with the same Materials, viz. Restore Sight to the Blind, who were born so; yet his stupendious Wisdom was pleased to honour such a Remedy as had been used by Phy­sicians of that Age, most opthalmick Oyntments being composed of Terras: Moreover, his ordering the Blind man to wash in Siloam, was agreeable enough with a physical intention. In truth our Lords making use of Clay, might seem an excellent Expedient to declare to the World his Divine power; that being the fittest Ingre­dient to restore a defective part, out [Page 96]of which by the same hand the whole was at first composed. Moreover, Naamans washing in Jordan was a na­tural Remedy, though attended with supernatural success. The Wine and Oyl poured into the wounds of the distressed Stranger by the good Sa­maritan, were specifically appropria­ted, although the success depended upon a supernatural Influx; and the Plaister of Figs applyed unto Heze­kiah's Plague-sore, was a rational Re­medy, being proper to mollifie hard Tumours in the flesh, and to ripen Imposthumes. The extraordinary Pool of Bethesda was not without some natural Vertue, being adjoyning unto the Slaughter-house of the Temple, the blood of the sacrificed Beasts be­ing mingled with it; and that is by Naturalists said to be of a Healing nature: Yet this doth not exclude the Necessity of a divine Angelick [Page 97]Influence, to render it efficacious; and perhaps several kinds of Meats prohibited under the Law, might in a natural way be prejudicial to the Health of Mens Bodies, and they might be forbidden upon a Moral as well as upon a Mystical account. There was also a rational Conformity be­tween the Leprous Contagion and the Law of Cleansing; the Lepro­sie did putrifie the Skin, opposite to that was Cedar Wood commended by Physitians against Putrefaction; it was of an ill Scent, contrary to that was the smell of Hyssop, an excellent Aromatique Plant, yet the Cure was wholly from a Divine Influence. The Jews observe, that though Leprosie be the Finger of God, yet the Hand of man must be used in the Cure; and there­fore we find that the Leper whom our Saviour healed, was commanded to use the Method prescribed in the [Page 98]Law of Moses, to be sprinkled and washed. The Aromatique Oyl used in extream Unction in the Apostoli­cal times, was a natural Remedy, though the Cure was attributed to the Prayer of Faith. Mary's supposi­tion that the Presence of her Saviour would have kept her Brother from Dying, was not improbable, though she was under a Mistake with re­spect to that present Dispensation: Many under Distempers expect to be raised as Lazarus was, only by the Physitian taking them by the Hand; or as Naaman, who expected the good Prophet to Cure him by only striking his Hand upon the Wall. But my Dear Friend, Farewell, and Pardon me I have made no more Scruple of ex­ercising your Patience, and take the humble Subscription of

LETTER XIV.

I Received yours of the Fifth In­stant, together with the strange Relation of the Person thought to be afflicted with strange Diseases by the the Power of the Devil; and for that reason I observe the Cure is Despair­ed of, but I suppose without Cause; for should we grant that many Dis­eases are caused by a Diabolical In­fluence, it need not therefore follow that the Cure is impossible: Indeed it must be acknowledged, that there have been multitudes of Cheats and Impostures of this kind, but to say they are all Delusions, is very Impru­dent: for sometimes divine Providence, for reasons best known to himself, [Page 100]may permit evil Angels to afflict the Bodies of men with distempers, vulgar­ly called Lying under an evil Tongue, or being Bewicht, as having no de­pendance upon the Chain of natural Causes. The Jews were threatned with some Diseases which should not be Cured by natural means, even wonderful Plagues and of long con­tinuance. There are in Scripture ma­ny instances of Diseases Inflicted by supernatural Agents, as Angels and Spirits, who disturb the Humours, and raise Storms and Tempests in Mens Bodies as well as in the Air: Evil Angels were sent to Afflict the Jews with divers Calamities; and many thousands in one Night were Slain by the destroying Sword of an An­gel, in a Pestilential Contagion: An evil Angel visited Saul with Stupen­dious Melancholly; and Job with pain­ful Boils; and Bowed a Daughter of [Page 101] Abraham eighteen Years: When an Omnipotent Power gives leave, the Devil can as easily possess the minds of Men with Distraction, as the Swine with Rage. The Excommunicate Corinthian being deliver'd up to Satan, for the Destruction of the Flesh, in order unto the Salvation of his Spi­rit, may as well be understood of his being Afflicted with some corpo­ral Distemper, by the power of the Prince of Darkness, as be taken in any other Sence: As we know St. Paul's Thorn in the Flesh, the Mes­senger of Satan sent to Buffet him, hath by some Learned Men been In­terpreted to our purpose: The Lasci­vious Persons seeking for Lot's House, to gratifie their vile Intentions, were struck Blind by an Angel, and those Windows were stopt up that let in wanton Glances. And the several Per­sons possessed, whom our Blessed [Page 102]Lord deliver'd from the power of the Prince of the Air, were misera­bly Afflicted with Epilepsies, Luna­cies, Convulsions, and other Direful Symptoms and Distractions, which threw them sometimes into the Fire, and sometimes into the Water. In the Primitive times, Corporal Inflicti­ons and Subjection to a Satanical Pow­er, was the sad consequence of Ex­communication; proportionable unto the Execrations in the Jewish Cherem, which we find exemplified in Saul after his defection from God: And it is observable, that the Essens amongst the Jews, when expelled the Con­gregation, dyed of miserable Deaths: And Ecclesiastical Writers tell us, Heliodorus in his Sacrilegious attempts was Scourged by two Angels in the shape of young Men, and hardly came off with his Life. The Catechists in the Primitive times, that prepa­red [Page 103]Persons for Baptism and Admissi­on into the Church, was wont to be called the Exorcist, that cast out Sa­tan: for by the performance of our Baptismal Covenant we renounce the Devil and his Propriety, and thereby the better secure our Health as well as our Peace. The Jews observed, that after the destruction of the San­ctuary and Sanhedrim, there still con­tinued amongst them four kinds of capital Punishments, instead of the four appointed by the Law of Moses; for he that deserved to be Stoned, either fell from a House, or was torn by Wild Beasts; he that deserved to be Burnt, either fell into the Fire, or was stung by a Serpent (therefore called fiery;) they that deserved to be Killed by the Sword, fell into the Hands of Thieves, or of the King; they that deserved Suffocation or Hanging, were Drowned in the Water, [Page 104]or fell into Melancholly, and were strangled thereby, as Judas was. But Religion very much secures men from the power of the Evil Angels, and from all other misfortunes. But, Sir, to be sure you shall alwayes be hap­py, if it lye in his power to make you so, who is

LETTER XV.

I Received your last Letter with wonder, to find you entertain so strange an Opinion, as to believe that Diseases are now cured in miracu­lous and extraordinary wayes, as they were in the Apostolical times, with­out the use and application of Ratio­nal [Page 105]and experimental Remedies. To dream that Charms, Amulets, Spells, &c. are of any vertue in curing Dis­eases, is vain; and that because St. Pauls Handkerchief, St. Peter's Sha­dow, and the Hem of our Saviours Garment, miraculously cured some in the Primitive times, therefore we must use them now. The reason why those Miraculous wayes of heal­ing were used in those times, was for the Confirmation of the Gospel in its first Plantation: But that being now done, those wayes of Cure are ceased. How can men expect the Divine Blessing with such means as have no natural vertue, as Words and Characters? For if one Text of Scri­pture carried in a mans Sleeve, will cure a Disease, surely the Bible in a mans Pocket must cure all Diseases. The Divine Oracles were given to guide our Faith, not to tickle our [Page 106]vain Imaginations. I once knew a fa­tal Event attend the use of such an accursed Medicine: A Gentlewoman having an Ague, a Begger gave her a Charm to hang about her Neck, bid her not read it, but when she was cured, burn it: The Minister of the Parish being a sober, Learned and pious conformable Divine, came casually to visit her; she telling him the Medicine, and the Cure which had attended it, threw it into the fire in his presence; but he catching it, read it: The words were, Ague fare­well, till you and I meet in Hell: Upon hearing of which, she fell into her Ague again, with greater violence than ever, and also into deep Me­lancholly, which occasioned her to lay Violent hands on her self. So dan­gerous it is to leave the Methods pre­scribed by Reason and Experience, to consult the Oracles of the Prince of [Page 107]Darkness. It's highly unreasonable to give heed to seducing Spirits, and Do­ctrines of Devils; enquiring of the god of Ekron, when there is a God in Is­rael. Some mens Curiosity in this kind has cost them dear, such practices be­ing forbidden upon pain of Damna­tion. What wise and good man would so far violate his Baptismal Covenant, as to consult with Judicial Astrologers, Wizards, and such like Cunning persons, who by a Diaboli­cal Confederacy will undertake to foretell the Events of Diseases, and Pe­riods of Mens dayes, and a multitude of other Accidents, known only to Omniscience; who knows the Effect because he knows the Cause: Sup­pose it were the Devil in Samuel's Mantle, that did foretell Sauls death; it doth not prove the Certainty of the Devils prediction, or the fatal Necessity of Saul's Death: It being [Page 108]easie from probable Conjecture to say what he did, there being all the forerunners of his approaching ruine visible to the World: For David was anoynted King, and Saul grew worse and worse, the Battel drew near, and what else could be expected but Destruction? If it should be granted, that the Lying Spirit in the Mouth of a false Prophet should foretell a Mans Death; it may only proceed from the observation that he violates some divine Command, and thereby exposeth himself to ruine. Magici­ans indeed use Charms, and Signs, and Good words, the better to de­ceive the ignorant, herein being Gods Ape, that as he hath made a Cove­nant with good men, and hath ap­pointed Signs and Seals, upon the faithful use of which he is present to perform what he hath promised: So the Devil makes a Covenant with [Page 109]Astrological Wizards, upon which he hath given Signs and Tokens, that if they use the one, he will per­form the other. And its an Atheisti­cal Dream, to imagine that the period of Mans dayes depends more on the malevolent influence of a Planet, than upon the Conduct of divine Provi­dence: A Belief very contrary to the Articles of the Christian Faith, to suppose an Astrological Necessity im­posed upon all sublunary Agents by the influence of Celestial Bodies, and that the Manner and Moments of mens Deaths, depend upon these things. Many have descended into the Earth, for fear of using Remedies upon the ascension of a particular Star in the Heavens. The celestial Dog doth neither Bark nor Bite in our Climate. The heavenly Bodies operate according unto the variety of the Matter with which they are [Page 110]conversant; as we may observe in the instance of Twins born under the same Planet; although they have the same seminal principles, Bed of Nature, and time of Birth, yet they differ in Sex, Complexion, Life and Death; as in the Example of Esau and Jacob. Can any man of Reason imagine, that all that are slain in the same Battel, were born under the same Ascendent? The proper reason why such a Child is strong, and such a one weak, is rather to be fetched from the Complexion of the Parent than the influence of the Stars; it's strength is rather to be attributed to the Mothers Milk, than the Via lactea: And the reason why such a one was shot to death, was not because his Roroscope was directed to Saturn, but because the Gun was directed to him. Besides, Education, Custom, Example, alter Nature; and our second Births [Page 111]divert the mischievous Effects of our first Nativity: Therefore not to use Remedies except such or such a Sign be searcht into, is great folly, and a Sign men are led more by Indiscre­tion than prudence, to regard an An­tique picture in the Almanacks, rather than Art and Reason. But though the World be guilty of many Errors, I shall be guilty of none in subscribing my self

LETTER XVI.

I Received yours, which gave an intimation of your intention to lay aside all Physicians, because you have been so unhappy as to fall into the [Page 112]hands of Quacks; whose advice hath not only proved unsuccesseful, but dangerous and almost deadly. Shall the Merchant never venture to Sea, because an unskilfull Pilot once cast away his goods? that were absurd: There is no action of humane Life that discovers a wise man more, than the choice of an able, learned and ex­perienced Physician, whose natural abilities are advanced by ingenuous Education, such being most fit to recti­fie the Disorders in mens Bodyes; who by their inquiry into Anatomy understand the use of the parts, and taking notice of the Figures, Springs, and Wheels by which Nature moves, become the better able to regulate her disorderly motions: Besides, they best understand the nature of Animals, Mi­nerals and Vegetables, and can the more dexterously apply fit Remedies according unto the several Indications [Page 113]of Distempers, and Circumstances of Patients. I pray what reason is there Physicians should be neglected? Is it because they are not Infallible? if they were, then they might alter the Statute Laws of Heaven, which were absurd to imagin: As in Religion the most Sacred Institutions are ren­dred insignificant unto the Souls of men, if not rightly administred, even so the most useful Remedies are ren­dred useless unto the Healths of men, if not prescribed by prudent Physici­ans. How can men expect the Bles­sing of Heaven, to concurre with the advice of ignorant and unworthy pre­tenders to Physick? Broken Trades­men, disbanded Souldiers, Bankrupt Merchants, and the very scum of the People, whose Receipts prove equally fatal with the Jaw-bone of an Ass: if one of these confident Fellows pre­tend to skill, though never so igno­rant, [Page 114]yet some credulous Souls are as ready to proclaim it, as if they thought some good Angel, like Mahomets Pid­geon whisper'd it in their ears; when it proves like Gunpowder, only serves to blow up mens Health. Can men expect Preservation, when they suffer their brains to be beaten out with the Bills of Quacks and Mounte­banks, in such a Nation as ours is, where there is such great variety of able and Legal Practicers? It's a shame such should be suffer'd, who can soon­er cure all Diseases, than one; and like the Lion in the Fable, pretend to pull the Thorn out of the Lambs foot, but in the end devour it▪ So that for ought I know, it may not be imprudent to adde one Casualty more to our weekly Bills of Morta­lity, and to say, So many dyed Mar­tyrs to their Physicians Ignorance. The folly of the World is more apt [Page 115]to gaze upon a Blazing Commet, that infects the Air, and poysons men with pestilential vapours, than on the glo­rious Sun, whose beams yield light and health to humane Nature. Quacks resemble the Serpent, pretend to give that which shall be good for Food and Physick, but in the end beguile men of their health, and a while after the Patient dyes the Death. To consult the Ignorant, is to tempt our Maker; the curing Diseases being like the mending of a Watch, if not done by a skilful Artist, the rectifying one Spring may disorder the regular Mo­tion of the whole Engine. Reason prompts men to consult the ablest Farriers when their Horses are sick, and not take the Hostler, who hath the Confidence to prescribe a Drench. We have many amongst us nickna­med Doctors, who are as unskilfull in Physick as the Athenians were in [Page 116]Religion; dedicating their Medicines unto an unknown Disease: Men who took their Degrees in a Drinking-School, or did their Exercise in Fees, affect the Title Doctor, though they want the Participle Doctus: Having no more Learning than what may serve to conceal their Ignorance: To run to these men, is as if a man to lance an Imposthume should run his Body against the poynt of a Sword in the hands of a mad man; or as if to cure a Quinsie, a man should de­sire the help of the common Execu­tioner. People ought to know that Diseases are cured by Method, as well as by Medicine, by Rules as well as by Receipts. Multitudes amongst us may be said to dig their Graves with their thick Skulls, and destroy their Bodies as well as their Souls by an implicit Faith, in hearkening to such Fellows; if a Cure succeeds, it is more [Page 117]by accident, than Art, as a blind man hits the mark. It's madness to choose Physicians by the Commendations of the Vulgar; they only talk like an Eccho, because they hear a Voyce, but know no reason why: and it's as imprudent to choose Physicians by their Garb, because an Ass may have gilded Trappings: Many of these men have more skill in mending Gar­ments, than Bodies that wear them, and yet will pretend to cure all Dis­eases that ever Sin intailed on the Race of Adam. Let me advise you, as a prudential Observation, tending to Health and Long Life, to use the same discretion when your Health is in danger, as when your Estate is, not to depend on the advice of an Attorney, but to fee a Counsellor: And since you say you are deeply engaged unto me, give me leave to prescribe the Recompence, which is, [Page 118]that you would believe me to be what I truly am,

LETTER XVII.

I Received yours Dated the 11^th instant, wherein you give me an account of the rare secret Medicine lately recommended to you, as an in­fallible cure for your Distemper; being recommended as a cure for all diseases. Sir, let me tell you, I have often found those kind of Medicines but meer Cheats, and Springes to catch Woodcocks; and yet men will not learn Wisdom, until the dust of the Grave, that Powder of Experience, be cast in their Eyes. He that will [Page 119]venture his life with the use of such a Medicine, will give the world cause to suspect, he stands in need of a large dose of Hellebore: With­out doubt, there is no Observati­on can conduce more towards the rendring Remedies effectual, than to be well assured that they are safe, known, and experienced Medicines, and faithfully prepared by the hand of an Artist, whose Profession it is, and exposed to the view of the world upon the Apothecaries file. The de­sign of keeping Medicines as Secrets, being chiefly to conceal the ignorance of the recommender, who could not write it in Latin; or the same per­sons dishonesty, who dare not pub­lish so dangerous a Medicine; or else his Covetousness in exacting, in the price of a mean, ordinary, familiar Medicine, which it appears to be when publisht: If a Pill be but guilded over [Page 120]with the pretences of Rare and Ex­cellent, it is cryed up, and swallow­ed down, when it's as common in the Shops as Salt and Pepper in a Kitchin: and there are abundance of Poysonous Remedies abroad in the World, that have nothing to kill them but Fasting Spittle and a smooth tongue, their best corrective being such an ingredient as wants a Corrective; but yet these Remedies must needs cure all diseases at one blow, as Samp­son did the Philistines: But these by rash snuffing Natures Candle, put it quite out. That Medicine costs the Patient dear, that costs him his Life: yet many such there are, that ride post daily, making every Corner do penance in venomed sheets; the Di­rections for the use of them being like Davids Letter to Uriah, only giving Instructions for the Death and ruine of the Patient. Is there any pleasure [Page 121]in being destroyed, because we are not able to say what hurt us? A Me­dicine may cure the disease, and kill the Patient; and a safe Medicine may do much hurt, by occasioning the omission of more proper and effectu­al Remedies. The world hath been much imposed upon, by being made to believe that Chymistry is a di­stinct art from Pharmacy; when the most excellent Rules for Chymical Preparations have been proposed to the World by Physicians and Apothecaries; it being but a Modern way of preparing Medicines, and doth peculiarly belong to that trade: As much as for a Tay­lor to make a Garment in a new fa­shion as well as in an old: Indeed such Medicines ought to be very prudent­ly advised; because a Child may do more mischief with a Knife of Steel, than of Bone: You shall many times have Death in the pot babtized with [Page 122]the name of the Elixir of Life, and a Dram of it cryed up beyond a bu­shel of March Dust, to Reinthrone the deposed Archeus, and do no man knows what: And at another time you shall have Alexipharmagons Panti­magogons, and medicines of such conju­ring names, that if you understood their natures, you would think them a kind of Tophet Potabile, and fitter for Country Farmers to treat Rats with, than to cure diseases in humane Bodies. There is nothing hath more contributed to the Brevity of mens Lives, and the languishments of hu­mane Nature in this Age, than the Multitude of secret private Medicines, cryed up as Infallible, which have laid the foundations for innumerable diseases, and made work for able Phy­sicians: And that which is a strange Paradox to me, is, that when a known experienced Remedy is recommended, [Page 123]every one must be advised with whether it may be used or no; but if a Medicine which none understand, nay not he that commends it, yet down it must go, without inquiry in­to it's nature, until by the fatal con­sequences we repent the using it. Sir, I beseech you interpret these lines as the expressions of my tender respects and care for your Health: one request more and I have done. Put me into the number of those that you count your most faithful Friends: For indeed I am,

LETTER XVIII.

I Received yours Dated the Fifteenth instant, wherein I perceive your great inconstancy and want of Re­gular Perseverance, in the use of those proper Remedies the Physician last prescribed. I should be glad I could say these things to your Ears as well as to your Eyes, but London finds me too much Business to grant me so great a happiness: therefore give my Pen leave to tell you, that the Regularity of the Patient is as ne­cessary, in order unto the success of Remedies, as the skill of the Physitian, or the Faithfulness of the Apotheca­ry, which in my two former Letters I hinted to you: And the wisdom of the Patient is discernable, in taking [Page 125]advice in time, and in presevering in the use of the means until the distemper be removed: But on the contrary, many Patients are so impru­dent as to follow directions by halves, and yet censure Physitians if their distempers be not removed in a week, which it may be have been contract­ing some months or years, slighting the use of good advice and proper Remedies, untill Nature be spent, and the disease have taken considerable root. English People are usually sick too late, and well too soon, as the Pro­verb saith; and the Physitian is fre­quently sent for, to try if he can work Miracles, rather than cure Diseases; the time for that being slipt, Nature being not able to lend it's helping hand. Many unwary Patients flatter themselves into their graves with con­ceits of Colds and Surfeits, confound­ing diseases with their Symptoms, and [Page 126]mistaking Internal maladies for Ex­ternal causes; giving some common Denomination to their distempers, and supposing them to be no other than what they have known some reco­ver from, neglect advice until it be too late; and then the Physitian is sent for, to share with the Patient in the infamy of the miscarriage: the time for Purgation and Bleeding be­ing over, nothing now remains but to toll the Bell: The usual discourse is, nothing but leaving off a Coat, or putting on a Damp Shift, or eating a Dish of meat that did not agree with the Stomach, or Drinking a Glass of Bad Wine, or over-walked, or a little frighted, or the like: when it may be all the time the Stomach is disordered with a Quagmire of cor­rupt humors, the Blood inflamed, the Liver obstructed, the Lungs perisht, and all these not taken notice of: as [Page 127]if a man whose House is on fire, should omit timely Quenching it, because it only happened by a Boyes throwing a Squib. Many sick Pati­ents are like the Babel Builders, when the Physitian prescribes a Trowel they'l bring a Hammer; when the Distem­per requires Sweat, they'l bring cool­ing Juleps: and if the repetition of a Medicine be requisite, the Patient is presently weary: as if a wound could be cured immediately upon the Ap­plication of a Plaister, before it hath lain a quarter of an hour; or as if the Cook were to be blamed because a Morsel of Meat doth not allay hunger, when it may be a pound is requisite. If the Physitian throw wa­ter to extinguish the fire of a Feaver, and the Patient throws on more fuel, how can it be put out? In vain is Care used in the Physitians Study, and in the Apothecaries Shop, if Er­rors [Page 128]be committed in the Patients Chamber. But Sir, your conduct is too great to be guilty of splitting your health upon such Rocks, espe­cially after you have been warned of the Danger, by one who shall ever take it as a great favour of Divine Providence, to be placed in any ca­pacity to serve you. I can say no more but what I must ever say, that

LETTER XIX.

I Received your last Letter, where­in you give me an account, that all the regular progress you had made towards the procuring your health, had like to have been lost, by the [Page 129]indiscretion of a friendly Visitant, who would needs put you out of conceit with your Physitian, with an intention to make way for his own; and indeed it is a very great fault in the World, and that which is very prejudicial unto the lives and healths of men. And it may well be accounted one of the requisites in order to the success of Remedies, for Visitants to exercise great prudence, or else by their impertinent discourse they may put a sick Patient out of regular methods. What reason is there the retained Physitian, while he is pursuing of rational intentions, and in the middle of his Cure, must be thrust out to make way for the Friends Doctor, who forsooth must by all means be the Best in the Town, because theirs? As if the sick Patient had not prudence enough to choose a Physitian as well as the Visitant: [Page 130]especially when we consider, the re­tained Physitian hath been long ac­quainted with the Patients constitu­tion and distempers, and hath often relieved him, when the other hath no acquaintance with the Patient, but must be recommended to recom­pence for their own ingratitude the last time they used him. Nay, it may be the indiscreet Visitant shall perswade to lay aside the able Le­gal and Learned Physitian, to make room for an ignorant, but bold and confident Quack; who shall pretend to great skill in such or such a dis­ease, and yet knows nothing but only how to kill people dexterously: If violent distempers surprize the brain and cause want of sleep, in comes a loving Friend and recommends Syrup of Poppies or else some other sleeping medicine, which Translates the Mor­bifick humour to the Brain, causing [Page 131]a Phrensie, or such a sleep which only the last Trumpet can awake. Sence is a riddle, and Reason is a pa­radox to some people: I knew a Gentlewoman, who coming to visit a sick Friend, much blamed the Doctors prescriptions, and perswaded the Patient to the use of a Pill, which she found commended in a printed Bill; he took it, and dyed that night: which so troubled the Gentlewomans mind, for medling without a just call, that it cost her Husband ten pounds to prevent her real distraction; she is not as yet fit to be left alone. I could name another imprudent Visi­tant, who being ambitious of being thought skilful in Physick, because a great reader of Culpepper, commended to a Friend a Dram of a Vomiting Medicine instead of a Scruple, because the Printer had made that mistake, and the Reader not having Judge­ment [Page 132]enough to correct it; but by a good Providence the dreadful consequences were prevented, by the Apothecaries refusing to let it go out of his Shop: The Electuary of Beef and the Julep of warm Broath, is the fittest Physick for a loving Friend to administer: thus they may cure the Chollick coming from wind and emptiness; that Charity being better which sets the Poors teeth a going, than that which cures their aking. The most regular Charity to the Poor who are sick, is to gratifie Phy­sitians for their advice, and to be at the charge of their Medicines when pre­scribed by the Learned, as a Gentle­man in this City doth, who alloweth his Physitian a yearly Stipend to give his advice to any Poor people recom­mended to him; and his Apotheca­ry the same, to let them have Me­dicines. I knew a Gentlewoman, who [Page 133]was constrained to hold up her hand at the Bar, for giving two Children a Mercurial medicine against worms, which sent them to the worms, and had almost sent her thither also. Such is the severity and excellency of the English Laws against such as have no Authority to practise Physick, that they are lyable to an Indictment for Felony, if any Person dye under their hands: and yet we frequently find friendly Visitants crying up such, when they might better spend their time in serious counsels and Christi­an advices to bear their visitations with patient submission to the Divine Will, untill they find ease and relief from the hand of Heaven; and also in timely intimations to set their Hou­ses in order, and prudently dispose of their temporal concerns by ma­king their Wills. In a sick Friends Chamber, Friends have an Excellent [Page 134]opportunity both to do and to receive good, by being put in mind of the Vanity of man in this mortal state, causing them to be more industrious in the faithful improvement of their own health, and in a Christian Pre­paration for Death. Now, Sir, that you may be strengthen'd upon your bed of languishing, and visited with the Divine saving health, that so your most mortal sickness may not be unto death Eternal, but for your Glory and passage into endless bliss, shall be the Prayer of

LETTER XX.

I Am sorry you meet with so ma­ny cross Winds in your Voyage to the Haven of health; particular­ly, that the carelesness of an At­tendant (I mean a Nurse) should blow you back again into the wide Ocean, and threaten a Shipwrack, when you seemed to be gotten within Ken of harbour. Great care ought to be used in choosing honest and careful Persons to attend sick Patients, whose Office it is to administer Re­medies prescribed by the Physitian, and prepared by the Apothecary: Every of these ought to know their peculiar province; for the skilful Nurse as well as the ignorant Physitian [Page 136]makes a fat Church-yard; and we find that in many Distempers careful attendance is half the cure: But when the Ignorant Nurse shall usurp the Learned Physicians imployment, and prescribe as well as administer, it's intollerable presumption: care and watchfulness are their most com­mendable qualities; but when they are Drowsic and careless, it's very prejudicial to the Patient: when like the first woman they tempt to that dyet which is Destructive both to the Patients health and the Physici­ans credit. Eating forbidden Fruit was at first our sin, when it was contrary to a Divine command; and it now causeth sickness, when it's contrary to the Physitians advice: I have sometimes known a Nurse perswade the Patient to eat that which she her self loved, when it was contrary to the patients Di­stemper: [Page 137]and sometimes the Phy­sitian must be forbid to prescribe Gascoin Powder, because she hath known one to dye after it; and sometimes the Physitians prescripti­ons must be all set behind the Win­dow curtain, because she doth not approve of them; and in the mean time she gives her Diascaudle, and what call 'um Water. A Child once dying of the Small-Pox, yet un­der the Care of an able Physitian, the Nurse threw away all his Medi­cines privately, and when it could not sleep, sent to the Apothecary for Syrup of Lettuce; and when it was costive, for Syrup of Roses, which was discovered a while after in the Apothecaries Bills, who knew not what use it was put to, untill she confest it to her Shame and Ruine. Sir, I hope you will survive this un­happy accident of your Nurse, and [Page 138]live to see her repent. The smell of a Violet I hope will be restorative; and believe it, you shall never want health, if it be in my Power to con­tribute towards it, who am

LETTER XXI.

I Understand by the Physician that your Distemper requires Bleeding, and I also perceive you have a very great aversation to it: Good Sir, I be­seech you, why is it not better to part with your Blood than your Life? but you say the Blood is the Life; and I'll say, the Blood is the cause of Death [Page 139]also, when there's too much of it, or when it's naught, as I am perswaded yours is, because your learned Doctor judgeth so. Are not all Creatures re­lieved with bleeding? and is it not practised by all wise Nations? The French and Spaniards use it two or three times in a day; and our fore­fathers shed their Blood by pounds to save their Lives, and shall not we do it by Ounces? Indeed, Sir, you had better sleep with a healthful bo­dy, than in a whole skin. Some learn­ed Jewish Doctors will tell you, that Circumcision was a means of health, as well as a Tipifick Institution: But Sir, if you do open a Vein, make use of a skilful Chyrurgeon, that may not make you lame, to make you sound, and open a Door with a Lance to let out your Soul with your Blood; for some such there are in the World, that want both skill [Page 140]and care, and pour Gaul and Vinegar instead of Wine and Oyl into their Patients wounds. Choose a man of honesty and reputed skill in his pro­fession, and one whose particular im­ployment it is; venture not your Life in the hand of one whose covetous­ness prompts him to venture out of his own Calling; neither he nor you can so rationally expect the Divine Blessing upon your bleeding, which will promote the Circulation of the remaining mass of Blood, whereby it will the better purifie it self; and the Blood being clarified, the Spirits will become more lively and vigorous to push off your Distemper; which good news will as it were kindle Bonfires of Joy in the Breasts of all your cordial Friends: In which catalogue you may safely number

LETTER XXII.

I Cannot but wonder, that you should wonder at the unsucces­fulness of the last Prescriptions, when I hear you perplex your Thoughts with melancholy Contemplations. A man may muse himself into his Grave, and think himself to Death. To be careful for nothing, but to please our Maker and to save our Souls, will very much promote the Health of our Bodies. The Effects of Love and Hope cherish the natural Heat and radical Moysture, beget gentle and vigorous Spirits, which makes the vi­tal Powers more brisk and lively. On the contrary, tedious and perplext Stu­dies, restless Impatience, fretful Mur­murings, and discontented Thoughts, [Page 142]they stop the regular motion of the Blood, damp the Spirits, and hinder the faculties of the Mind. When the Briskness of the vital Heat is suffoca­ted, and the Contraction of the Heart weakned, and the Blood grown thick and cold in the extremities of the Ves­sels, and is not able to thrust it self in­to the remoter branches of the Arteries and Fibres of the Veins, but stagnates in the narrow passages of the Body and Brain, from thence is laid a foun­dation for Pains, Palsies, and all Scor­butick Distempers; and then we sigh and groan, and live a dying Life or a living Death, which is very bur­thensom to humane Nature. Spiritual pleasure is an excellent Medicine a­gainst bodily pains, and true Piety is the best Cure of Melancholly in the whole World.

When the Soul is filled with light and vigor, it infuseth a strange kind [Page 143]of Alacrity into the Humors by a physical Efficiency: Internal Joy, grounded upon the Reflections of a good Conscience, hath a mighty power both to correct and exalt a mans natural temper. Those Ardent Breathings wherewith the pious Soul is continually carryed out towards God and Goodness, are to the Body like so much fresh Air and wholsom Exer­cise, they fan the Blood, and clarifie the Spirits, and purge them from their feculency, which would other­wise cloud the Understanding, and make us dull and listless: Therefore, Sir, I beg of you, as you tender your Health, pare away all your superflu­ous thoughts; and let a lumpish Spi­rit be a Stranger to your Habitation, because it is a Scandal to Christiani­ty: Who hath more cause to rejoyce than they that have the Smiles of Heaven, and the foretastes of endless [Page 144]pleasure? Therefore suffer your Harp to hang no longer upon the Willows, but contemplate the Song of Moses and of the Lamb, which will elevate all the powers of Nature. When men give way to violent and unreasonable passions, and lay out more in expe­ctation than the fruition will make amends for, they purchase Diseases at a dear rate. The passions of the Mind influence the Humours of the Body: Anxious Solicitudes about Events, and Murmuring at the Allotments of Pro­vidence, suspend the Influence of di­vine Blessing, and withdraw that ho­ly protection who hath promised to care for us, if we cast all our care on him: Hope deferred will make the heart sick: Eager desires after ter­rene Enjoyments, as they drownd mens Souls in perdition, so they pierce mens Bodies with many sorrows: When swarms of perplexing Cares hive in [Page 145]mens Heads, they yield more Sting than Honey. There are many in the World who stab themselves with pi­ning grief, and poyson themselves with pensive Melancholly. Wrath kills the foolish man, and Envy slayes the silly one: Nehemiah's grief changed his coun­tenance; and we know that Fear hath torment: When the Mind is kept in an equal, calm, serene temper, the Body is sensible of the Conveniency: A chearfull spirit doth good like a Medi­cine; but on the contrary, a sorrowful spirit dryes the Bones. The way to pull out the thorn in the Flesh, is to heal the wound in the Spirit. If men did sigh for nothing but Sin, and set their af­fections on him who best deserves their Love, and make use of the Re­medy provided for all the evils of the World, viz. a Contented Mind; their healths would be better secured: but when any created good lyes too near the Heart, or the Clouds of Melan­cholly [Page 146]eclipse the upper Region of the Mind, they hinder the vigorous Reflections of the vital Spirits, and render Medicines ineffectual. By me­lancholly, sad and gloomy thoughts, we expose our selves to the power of the Prince of Darkness, who loves to inhabit sad Souls, who love Sun­less dayes. Spend not your Life like a man possest, amongst Groves and Tombs: by profound Sorrow and Melancholly, we give place to the Devil. That made St. Paul compassio­nate the excommunicate Corinthian, lest being too much cast down, Satan should get advantage of him. Too much sadness, like the Earth lying un­der water, makes it unfruitful. There­fore, Sir, let me beg of you to hoise the sails of your Soul, and to bid adieu to needless Thoughts. Forgive the haste that made these Blots, and believe that I am without spot of complement,

LETTER XXIII.

I Am glad to hear you find your distemper abate, upon the use of the last Remedies: but let me tell you, I attribute very much of their success unto the temperate, exact and regular Dyet I find you ob­serve; and you will experiment that it will very much facilitate the Cure: for in some distempers a very slen­der Dyet, and taking in little Drink, doth withdraw much of the fewel that increaseth the Disease. It ill be­comes a sick man to dig his Grave with his teeth, make his Table a snare, and Dedicate meat and drink Offer­ings unto the god of his Belly: when mens hearts are overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness, it not onely causeth Diseases, but hinders [Page 148]their Cure: some patients lye con­tinually like John Babtist's head in a Charger, and so oppress Nature with a greater load, when they should be making the Vessel lighter; more being killed by Meats then by Mus­quets: But though you do well to be very exact in observing a Physi­cal Dyet, yet so much ought to be taken as may support Nature, and make it's burthen tolerable. Sir, I must bid you good Night, and only take leave to tell you, that my best Endeavours are at your service, and remain

LETTER XXIV.

I Received yours Dated the 10^th instant, wherein you seem very inquisitive to know what may fur­ther [Page 149]contribute towards the Perfect­ing your Health, and render the means yet more effectual: Unto which I must answer, If you would exer­cise your Body, by Walking, Riding, Bowling, Pumping, or Shooting in the Long-Bow, or the like: for by Labour and Exercise we get both our bread and our health; and Adams curse becomes a blessing unto a Chri­stian, That in the sweat of his brows he should eat his bread. Idleness, one of Sodom sins becomes a great pu­nishment. The running Stream is pure and clean, when standing water gathers mud: But on the contrary, you ought to be Cautious of violent motions, lest thereby you extinguish the flame of Natures Candle: by walking too fast, you may make more hast than good speed, and leave your health behind you: Many peo­ple like the two Disciples, running not out of love, as they did, but [Page 150]out of rashness into a Sepulchre: But yet moderate Exercise is of great ad­vantage, to warm the Blood, and open Obstructions, and excite the operation of Medicines, and render them much more effectual. In a Physical sence bodily Exercise profiteth more than a little. Sir, so often as your Pen gives me a tast of your Ease and re­covery, I relish much happiness, who am

LETTER XXV.

ONce more give me leave as a Friend to tell you, that I am con­fident the Air taken in a morning this pleasant month of May, wherein nature provides something to entertain all [Page 151]your Senses, would prove exceeding advantageous, and make your Dyet­drink more prevalent: for there is a Ni­tre in the Air that contributes nourish­ment to all beings, especially to fol­low a Plow, and suck in the cherish­ing steams from the breasts of your Mother the Earth: and if you can, your native Soyl, where you drew in your first breath. But on the other hand, have a care of that which we Vulgar­ly call taking Cold: for Death some­times creeps into the body through the pores of the Skin; so that if at any time the alterations of the Air put a stop to the genuine operation of Medi­cines, do not unjustly blame the Physi­cian or the Remedies: have a care of taking cold in your feet, lest you go wet-shod to your Grave; or of leaving off a Garment, lest you put on a Wind­ing-sheet. The humors in mens bodies are tost in the Air, like waves in the Sea by the winds; and sometimes the blood [Page 152]grows as 'twere mouldy, for want of that Fan of Nature: Many mens bo­dies, and particularly yours, being like a Weather-glass, subject to the least alte­rations in the Air, and easily blown into their Graves by a sharp northern wind. Many by long looking out at a Win­dow have espied the grim face of Death; The Air of an open Casement being sometimes like the blow of a Cross-bow. Sir, I pray take this advice, from one that hopes you may walk up many May hills in this World, and at last arrive at the holy Hill of Sion.

LETTER XXVI.

I Am very well pleased to hear that you are pleased with my last Ad­vice; but I am also concerned, that [Page 153]you should continue an ill custom, so apparently injurious to your Health, as your taking so much Tabacco is like to prove: Indeed I am of opini­on, there is no Plant that ever God made for the use of Man, that hath done more good and more harm than that hath done. It must be confest, prudently used, it's a soveraign Me­dicine in many Distempers; but it proves no better than a Poyson to many men, as it is so familiarly used and abused, being in our dayes more taken as Food than Physick: And there is no one practice wherein wise men more frequently play the Foll, than in the immoderate use of this In­dian Weed, which may not impro­perly be called Man-bane. Men spend their dayes in Smoak, and shorten their dayes also by its too frequent use, smothering themselves into their graves, as we do Bees when we take and destroy the Hive. It was a tart [Page 154]Reflection of a Comical Wit, who being in a great Fogg, said, The Prince of the Air was taking a Pipe of Ta­bacco. It's very strange to me, that such an unpleasant practice should prevail so much, to the apparent prejudice of so many thousands, who spit away their Lives, and drein away that sweet Moysture which would keep the Blood cool, and promote its regular motion. That practice which was scandalous amongst our Forefathers, is now become a piece of good En­tertainment; and he that threatned to burn his Pipes, and to cut his Ta­bacco to pieces, was thought a great Reformer about Thirty years ago: but that which greatly excites our care lest we use it too freely, is its palpable enmity to the Brain and Nerves, dispo­sing men to Apoplexies, Palsies, Con­vulsions and Vertigo's: Many great Physicians taking notice in their Ob­servations, of many of their Patients, [Page 155]falling into apoplectick Fits with Pipes in their Mouths, it being a great Opi­ate. It is also greatly prejudicial to the Memory, and also [...]t [...] the Bo­dy of its due Nourishment, by its laxa­tive Quality thrusting the A [...] too soon out of the Stomach, before there is a perfect Concoction, especially if taken too soon after a Meal: if ever it be proper, it's towards Bed-time. He that can give a good reason for taking above three Pipes a Day, may very safely take more. I have known the Oyl of Tabacco poyson a Dog: And I dare affirm the Smoak of it hath poysoned many men. A Noble man in our time lost his Head by taking a Pipe of Tabacco; that is to lay, the being observed to burn Letters to light his Pipe, was the Cause of his Appre­hension, and raised the suspition of his being the Person sought for; where­upon he was taken, and condemned and executed: I wish it hath not se­parated [Page 156]many other mens Souls from their Bodies. Some make it a questi­on, whether Guns or Pipes have Killed most. I am sure there's no Smoak, but there's some Fire. Doubtless, if men would take it at the other End, it would do less hurt, and it may be more good. I remember one of the wisest Princes of Europe said upon an occasion, It was good for nothing but to perfume a Hog-stye: But in that I think he was a little too severe: for there are excellent uses may be made of it: And amongst many others, it may serve for Contemplation, to put men in mind that their Life is but a vapor, and that all things under the Moon vanish into Smoak: Except it be the Friendship of your faithful Servant, which can never evaporate whilest he is

LETTER XXVII.

I Received yours the 12^th instant, where­in you complain exceedingly of the ill Effects of the Waters at Epsam this Summer: I beseech you inquire whether the Cause be not from your own irregu­lar Use of them; and also take notice, whether you do not drink more Wine than Water: For those Symptoms you complain of, give a greater suspicion of the former, than the latter, being used; sure I am, the Doctor that recommended them to you, understood their fitness for your Constitution and Disease, therefore if you follow his Direction, in the use of them, I question not but they will have their desired Effect. I know there are more go thither to gratifie Curiosity, than to serve the end of Health; and Pleasure is more frequently propounded than Ease. But let me tell you, those physical Waters by the preposterous use, often prove like the Waters of Jealousie, they make Peo­ples Bodies to swell, and their Thighs to rot, and lay the foundations for many di­stempers, [Page 158]as Dropsies, Agues, Gouts, and the like: Many long as much to drink them, as King David did to drink of the Water of the Well of Bethlehem, but men venture their Lives in so doing, as they did in that case, especially by the unrea­sonable quantities many men take. I have larely known one come home swelled with a Dropsie, another tinctured with a Jaun­dice, and a third shaking with an Ague. All immoderate Evacuations are very de­structive to Nature: There are hundreds that Drowned themselves in Wells, that are never mentioned in the weekly Bills. Nature is destroyed by all Extreams, too much Food, or too long Fasting; too much Rest, or too much Motion; too much Sleep, or too much Watching; too much Joy, or too much Sorrow; too much Heat, or too much Cold; too much Wine, or too much Water Quantities shorten Life more than Qualities. Many who were only wan­tonly Sick, become really so; and that which was intended for a Cure, many times becomes a Surfeit. At those Wa­ters men are served like the Impostor who fained himself Blind, that the Arrian Bi­shop might work a Miracle in his Cure; and when he would have opened his Eyes, could not, but was ever after really Blind. [Page 159]People depending upon the cleansing Ver­tue of those Waters, and neglecting the use of proper Remedies to render them Effectual, do but like an improvident Laundress, who thinks to wash her Lin­nen white and clean with Water without Soap. They should be chiefly used as Pos­set-drink to a Purge. Indiscrect Persons think to take off the Mischief of too great Quantities of Wine, by drinking plentiful Draughts of Water; but this is to run Nature out of one Extream into another, and to render mens Bodies more subject to Diseases and Putrefaction; like Timber that lyes sometimes in the wet, and some­times in the Sun, more subject to Rot. There are thousands that purge their Souls out of their Bodies by immoderate Evacu­ations one way or other. Sir, I shall con­clude this Discourse of Mineral Waters with a hearty wish, That you may ever find them successeful, untill you come to Drink of that Well of Life which makes glad the City of God: Where I hope you will be accompanyed by

LETTER XXVIII.

I Think there are few things requisite in order to the desirable success of a Course of Physick, but I judge you have had a friendly Intimation of, except it be this: That you would not too much indulge your self in Sleep. Many shorten their dayes by sleeping in the Day, and as it were turning themselves into Dormice. To lye in Bed untill the Sun-beams lash men for their Drowziness, is an injurious Custom. The first Man lost his Rib in his Sleep, and many of his Posterity lose their Health in it. Sir, I take this for an undoubted Truth, That if Rules of Religion, Moderation and Prudence were observed in the whole course of Mens Lives, Gray hairs would be more in Fashion, Physicians would gain more credit by their Prescriptions, sick Patients would find Remedies more Effectual, and a Divine Influence would more infallibly attend them all. Sir, I must now conclude, and so may you, that